Kenneth Charles ‘Chuck’ Wanberg The Mining Journal
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Michigan
Midwest
United States
Industrial Site
Utility / Energy Infrastructure
Waterfront / Riverfront
Demolished / Lost
Environmental Change
Public Research
Shiras Steam Plant Site, Marquette
Shiras gives the Marquette pack a twentieth-century energy chapter, where coal power, municipal utility service, demolition, and waterfront reuse converge.
Shiras Steam Plant Site
South Lake Street, Marquette, Michigan 49855
Precision: Approximate
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Quick Take
- The Mining Journal reported that the Shiras Steam Plant was built in 1967, placed in layup status in June 2018, and officially retired in March 2019.
- Upper Michigan's Source reported in 2021 that demolition was removing the plant, stacks, and conveyor belts.
- Shiras lets the pack document industrial architecture that no longer stands but still shapes waterfront planning and public memory.
Email updates for Shiras Steam Plant Site.
Why It Matters
The Shiras Steam Plant brings Marquette's industrial architecture into the late twentieth century. The waterfront was shaped by nineteenth-century iron shipping, early municipal utilities, coal power, conveyor systems, stacks, and energy transition.
Its demolition also makes the site a sharp loss study. A missing plant can still explain land use, tax base, utility planning, environmental cleanup, and changing public expectations for the lakefront.
The article should treat Shiras as a real industrial landscape rather than as an eyesore that disappeared.
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Research Narrative
Coal Power On The South Marquette Waterfront
Shiras belonged to a utility landscape where power generation, coal handling, lakefront land, and public ownership overlapped. Its stacks and conveyor systems gave South Lake Street a different industrial character from the ore docks to the north.
The plant's municipal role also matters. This was infrastructure serving Marquette and surrounding townships, not an isolated private industrial ruin.
Retirement And Demolition
The plant's retirement in 2019 and demolition in 2021 place it inside a wider transition away from older coal-fired generation. For Marquette, that transition was architectural as well as operational: stacks, conveyors, and building mass were physically removed from the waterfront.
Loss changed the site from a visible power plant into a redevelopment question.
A Lost Plant In The Industrial Record
Industrial architecture is not limited to what survives. Documenting Shiras gives the archive a way to hold a recently erased utility landscape in relation to older surviving structures.
The contrast is productive: Marquette preserved and reuses some industrial buildings, keeps one ore dock active, and has completely cleared other infrastructure.
Public Actions
Campaign / Petition Record
Ordered oldest to newest.
1967
Utility Construction
Shiras Steam Plant built for Marquette Board of Light and Power
by Public record Previous
The plant expanded Marquette's municipal power-generation landscape on South Lake Street.
June 2018-March 2019
Utility Retirement
Plant placed in layup status and then officially retired
by Public record Previous
Retirement moved the site from operating utility to post-industrial waterfront question.
2021
Demolition
Demolition removed the plant, stacks, and conveyor belts
by Public record Previous
The physical loss makes the site a recent industrial-erasure case study.
2022
Reuse Planning
Marquette Board of Light and Power sought ideas for the former plant site
by Public record Current
The reuse discussion keeps the former industrial site active in public planning.
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Shiras Steam Plant Site, Marquette, Michigan
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FAQ
Why include a demolished power plant?
A historical industrial pack should document recent losses as well as survivors, especially when the cleared site continues to shape waterfront planning.
Was Shiras part of the iron ore industry?
Not directly in the way the ore docks were. It belongs to the municipal energy infrastructure that supported modern Marquette.
What should future research add?
Archival photographs, plant plans, environmental records, and BLP board materials would deepen the article beyond the retirement and demolition timeline.
Sources
Source Trail
The Mining Journal: A powerful piece of Marquette history
local history
Source for construction date, retirement timeline, and municipal power role.
Upper Michigan's Source: Demolition of former Shiras Steam Plant continues
local reporting
Source for demolition of the plant, stacks, conveyor belts, and related structures.
Upper Michigan's Source: Marquette BLP seeks ideas to repurpose former Shiras Steam Plant site
local reporting
Source for post-demolition site-reuse discussion.
Place Snapshot
- Place
- Shiras Steam Plant Site
- Location
- South Lake Street, Marquette, Michigan 49855
- Coverage
- Approximate
Key Facts
- Region
- Marquette, Michigan / South Lake Street
- Location type
- Former coal-fired municipal power plant
- Construction date
- 1967, with later generating-unit expansion
- Current condition
- Retired and demolished; former site under reuse consideration
- Primary research value
- Energy infrastructure, industrial loss, waterfront reuse, and municipal utility history
Design / Planning Timeline
Marquette Board of Light and Power
1967
Milestone
Owner / operator
The plant was owned and operated by the Marquette Board of Light and Power.
Marquette Board of Light and Power
1983
Milestone
Generating-unit expansion
Local reporting identifies Unit 3 as a major later generating addition.
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