Gwinn, MI

Gwinn is an unincorporated census-designated place in Forsyth Township, Marquette County, where M-35 follows the forks of the east and middle branches of the Escanaba River. The 2020 census counted 1,784 residents. Marquette is about 20 miles north, and nearby Austin and New Swanzy sit within the same Upper Peninsula landscape. The river and the old mine country give Gwinn a clear geographic center even though it has no incorporated municipal government.

Cleveland-Cliffs acquired the area in 1902 and opened the Gwinn Mine in 1905. Company president William G. Mather then commissioned a planned town for miners, designed by Warren H. Manning and built between 1907 and 1910. The river was rerouted to protect the mines, and the company added a hospital, hotel, clubhouse, bank, and clock tower. The Gwinn Model Town Historic District entered the National Register in 2002. Gwinn still carries the shape of that industrial plan, with the Escanaba branches and forest roads surrounding streets made for a mining town.