page_title: Italian Hall
section_title: 1914 to present
hierarchical_section_title: Italian Hall / History / 1914 to present
caption_attribution_description: English: A step from the main stairway of Italian Hall on display at the visitor center of the Keweenaw National Historical Park. About the step, the display in front states "This stair is from the building's interior landing inside the front door"
context_page_description: Italian Hall was a two-story commercial and recreational building in Calumet, Michigan, built in 1908 and demolished in 1984. Two prior buildings known popularly as "Italian Hall" had stood on the site. The first floor housed commercial space with a large hall on the second floor. The building served as headquarters for the Società Mutua Beneficenza Italiana and hosted community events. The hall is notorious as the site of a disaster in 1913 in which over 70 people died after a false cry of "fire" at a Christmas party. Since demolition, the site has served as a memorial park. The property is a Michigan State Historic Site and the building was formerly on the National Register of Historic Places.
context_section_description: After the 1913 disaster, Italian Hall remained in use for about 50 years. In 1975, historian Kevin Harrington compiled a report on Italian Hall as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey, in which the building was recorded as vacant. The building was designated a Michigan State Historic Site on June 6, 1977, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 23, 1980. In 1980, the building received threats of condemnation from the village for its unsafe condition and its owner, Helen Smith, was incapable of maintaining it. The Friends of the Italian Hall organized to preserve the building; however, they conceded it was not possible when the cost to do so was estimated at $500,000. Italian Hall was demolished in October 1984. The Friends group proposed that a memorial be made incorporating the doorway, and it was set aside from demolition. On October 1, 1987, a Michigan State Historic Site informational marker was erected on the site. Italian Hall was removed from the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1988.
  The 75th anniversary of the disaster, in 1988, spurred action regarding the site. In 1989, the site of the former building was made into a memorial park and the doorway was re-erected on the property. Volunteer labor to create the park was provided by local union members. In 2004, the doorway underwent repairs which included the installation of a copper cap on the arch. As of 2011, the park is owned by the village of Calumet and maintained by the Keweenaw National Historical Park (KNHP).
  As of 2010, the park consisted primarily of the doorway arch and a few historic markers set in the middle of the lot. The doorway is adorned with brass plaques contributed by those who donated to the effort to create the memorial. The Michigan State Historic Site marker details the 1913 disaster on one side and the building's history on the other. There was a stone marker bearing a photograph of Italian Hall. In the rear, a Michigan Women's Hall of Fame marker about Anna Clemenc once stood, but it was removed at some point. There are also brick paths, concrete benches, shrubbery, and a flagpole on the site. There have been plans for further interpretative exhibits on the site up to the addition of a museum and theater, though plans for the latter have not panned out. In late 2012, Michigan Technological University students began surveying the site for archaeological remains with the intent to improve landscaping and site interpretation.
  As of 2010, the exterior doors from the base of the stairway are on display at the Coppertown USA Museum in Calumet. As of 2012, one of the stairway's steps is displayed in the visitor center of the KNHP in Calumet. Because of arguments presented in Steve Lehto's Death's Door, the MSHS marker was modified in June 2013 to omit any mention of the doors or the direction they opened; it previously claimed that the doors opened inward.
  In 2017, work began to add a monument at the site listing the names of the people who died in the 1913 disaster. Black granite was selected for the 8.5 by 4.5 ft (2.6 by 1.4 m) monument because of its durability compared to other colors of granite or a memorial made of glass. The monument would be located where the MSHS marker stood, so the marker was moved to a spot closer to the street. Installation of the monument was originally planned for November 2017, but brown-colored defects were found in the stone and it was rejected. A new stone was ordered, with installation expected in May 2018.
caption: The step on display at the KNHP visitor center in Calumet in 2012
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