BlockFrom the record
One of 80 National Register listings published here for Iron County · listed in 1983 · category: District.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Alpha Public Buildings Historic Complex
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 5 buildingss, 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
- Address. 404 Main St., Alpha, 49920
- When was it listed? December 1983
- Category. district
- Also known as. Iron County MRA
- Township. Mastodon township
- National Register reference number. 83003659 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
37 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 37 fires within 5 miles of Alpha Public Buildings Historic Complex between 1992 and 2019, burning about 206 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 3 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 use | 9 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 August 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | LIND ROAD |
| 7 July 2007 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 June 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 June 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.1 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 June 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 15 June 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.2 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 14 June 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | IRON 0006 |
| 11 June 2003 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Mines and quarries near this property
10 of 152 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 152 workings within 5 miles of Alpha Public Buildings Historic Complex: 61 occurrences, 51 past producers, 39 prospects, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Manganese, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Lake Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Stager Manganese Property | Manganese | Prospect | ||
| Alpha Mine | Iron | Past Producer | 1882, 1903 | |
| Alpha Mine | Iron | Past Producer | 1903 | |
| Balkan-Judson Mine | Iron | Past Producer | 1882, 1935 | |
| Balkan-Judson Mine | Iron | Past Producer | 1913 | |
| Book Mine | Iron | Past Producer | 1942, 1958 | |
| Book Mine | Iron | Past Producer | 1942, 1943 | |
| Bristol Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Bristol-Youngstown | Iron | Past Producer | 1892 |
Storms near this property
8 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alpha, the town this property stands in, in 8 storm reports between 2000 and 2025: 4 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2016 | Flash Flood | Alpha | $100,000 | Heavy rain caused washouts or partial washouts of several roads in Iron County. The more significant road damage was reportedly in the Alpha area along County Road 424. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpha | - | Trees were uprooted due to thunderstorm winds in Alpha. |
| April 2004 | Hail | Alpha | - | Penny sized hail was reported. |
| June 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpha | - | Several 12 inch diameter trees were blown down. |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpha | - | Numerous trees were blown down. |
| July 2025 | Hail | Alpha | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Alpha | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Alpha | - | no account filed |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | First National Bank Building | under 500 feet | 1983 |
 | Bewabic Park | 3.7 miles | 2016 |
 | Frank C. Huse House | 3.8 miles | 1983 |
 | Steven Royce House | 3.9 miles | 1983 |
| Courthouse Residential Historic District | 3.9 miles | 1983 | |
 | David M. Ross House | 4.0 miles | 1983 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 83003659 in Record Group 79. |
| Iron County | All 80 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- 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.