Station: Kingsford, MI

Kingsford was a community planned on the west edge of Iron Mountain by the Ford Motor Company in Dickenson County. It was incorporated as a village in 1924 and a city in 1947.

Henry Ford established a production facility for wood car products here around 1920. The facility also produced parts for World War I gliders. Ford also began a process of turning wood scraps into charcoal briquets. He built a charcoal plant here for that purpose. That company was originally called Ford Charcoal, then changed to Kingsford Charcoal in honor of E. G. Kingsford, a relative of Ford who brokered the site selection for the town. The sawmill and parts plant were closed in 1951, following Ford's death. The chemical plant was sold and continued to operate until 1961.

Kingsford was served by the Milwaukee Road railroad with sidings off their line south of Iron Mountain.

Notes

Milwaukee Road Menominee River Bridge. The current bridge was bilt about 1902 crossing the Menominee River just south of Kingsford and Iron Mountain. This is probably the second bridge here as the railroad came through from Wisconsin in 1886. Overall, this bridge is 330' in length, consisting of two sets of two steel deck girder approach spans, each set 75' in length, plus a single steel arch span 180' long, all resting on concrete piers and abutments.

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