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Bessemer, Michigan

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1943 and the latest in 1980. It stands in Bessemer Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49911. The Survey maps it on the Bessemer quadrangle. 1,805 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,427 feet above sea level.

Bessemer within Gogebic County

On record in Bessemer

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

3 figures

Bessemer fell from 2,566 to 1,805 between 1890 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
18902,566
20101,905
20201,805-100 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 11 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

13 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Bessemer between 1992 and 2020, burning about 11 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Equipment and vehicle use4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Natural2
Debris and open burning2
Arson/incendiarism2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
13 September 2020Naturalunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesBESSEMER FD 0200913 - 2020
10 June 1994Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 May 2007Equipment and vehicle use1.5 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWAKEFIELD FD 0540001 - 2020
3 May 2003Debris and open burning2.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
24 May 2012Naturalunder an acreOttawa National ForestMARGARET
1 May 1994Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
30 April 1995Debris and open burningunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Gogebic County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 53 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 53 workings within 5 miles of Bessemer: 37 past producers, 12 occurrences, 3 producers, 1 prospect. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Lead. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Gogebic County QuarriesStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unnamed Lead ProspectLeadOccurrence
Cebolski PitsSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Les Johnson Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Randall PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Anvil-Palms-Keeweenaw GroupIronPast Producer1886, 1887
Anvil-Palms-Keweenaw GroupIronPast Producer1887, 1957
Chicago- Includes Former SpartaIronPast Producer1892
Colby MineIronPast Producer1884, 1923
Colby MineIronPast Producer1884

Every working recorded in Gogebic County

Storms near this place

15 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bessemer in 15 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 1 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 1999Thunderstorm WindBessemer$10,000Trees down on camping vehicles.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindBessemer$8,000Law enforcement reported numerous trees and power lines down in Bessemer via Public Safety Radio.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindBessemer$5,000The Gogebic County Dispatch reported power lines down in Bessemer. Wind gusts at the Ironwood ASOS were measured at 50 mph, but were probably higher in Bessemer where wind damage occurred.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindBessemer$3,000The sheriff received reports of numerous trees and power lines downed across Gogebic county. The public also reported an 8-inch diameter dead tree snapped at the base and a portable basketball hoop that broke in half.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindBessemer$1,000Law enforcement dispatch reported a tree down in Bessemer. Time of the report was estimated from radar.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindNorth Bessemer$1,000There was a delayed report from Ottawa National Forest Park rangers of large tree limbs in excess of 12 inches snapped at the Black River Harbor Recreational Area campground site.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindBessemer$1,000A few trees and a power line were knocked down in Bessemer.
May 2024HailBessemer-Pictures via Facebook from Bessemer of large hailstones ranging from 1.25 to 2.00 inches in diameter. Time of the report was estimated from radar.
June 2022HailNorth Bessemer-Report via Facebook of dime to quarter-sized hail three miles northwest of Bessemer.
May 2007HailBessemer-Dime to nickel-sized hail.
July 2006HailBessemer-Hail lasted for five to ten minutes.
July 2006Heavy RainBessemer-Thunderstorms produced heavy rainfall of 4 to 6 inches over much of western Gogebic County during the early morning hours of the 29th. Minor street flooding was reported in the Bessemer, Wakefield and Marenisco areas as well as flooding on Bingham Creek near Lake Gogebic.
July 2000HailBessemer-Dime sized hail at Black River Park
July 1999Thunderstorm WindBessemer-Many trees and power poles down.
August 2025HailNorth Bessemer-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Gogebic County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Yale1.2 miles11
Anvil2.0 miles11
North Bessemer2.1 miles9
Siemens2.7 miles11
Ramsay3.1 miles13
Verona3.4 miles13
Auvinen Corner3.5 miles9
Plymouth4.1 miles13

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on BessemerAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q670631The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 621184. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.