July 3,2008 Ironwood, MI  -  The Ironwood Downtown Development Authority at the urging of the newest members gave the go-ahead to local historian, Larry Peterson to do a test tour of downtown Ironwood. The Downtown Development Authority was represented by Jackie Powers. The city council was represented by Councilmen Tom Laabs. Scott Stevens owner of Ironwood Plastic and a member of the Civic Center Board also attended the tour. The city was represented by Karen Gullen and newbie Community Development Director Dan Peterson. The test tour attracted plenty of media attention, representing the press on the tour were: Jim Albert, publisher of www.superiorchoronicle.com, Eric Hjerstedt Sharp, photo-journalist for the Ironwood Daily Globe; and Lou Bonagura, writer and webmaster for IronwoodInfo.com;

The tour began on the front steps of the Memorial Building, then proceeded inside to hear some of the history behind the lavish building. Peterson described the opulent use of marble in the building and the fact that during the mining hay day no expense was spared on this and other buildings in Ironwood.

Peterson spoke of the important battles of the three wars depicted on the stained glass. The Civil War (panel on the right), the Spanish-American War the panel in the center) and the First World War, (center panel) the war that was to end all wars. There is a great canon story about the stained glass mural pictured above.  It's worth taking the tour just to learn about its historical significance

The tour included the outside of the library. Other buildings on the tour included the historic Ironwood theatre, where the tour was turned over to Tom Brown who detailed the history of the theatre.