It is primarily commercial, but also contains the historic county courthouse complex, and school, library, and church buildings.

Buildings appeared in Iron Mountain almost overnight, and in 1881 the Stephensons and Joseph Flesheim executed a second plat, extending the original one to the west.

After World War II, the economy again improved, despite the closing of the Ford plant in 1951 and the continuous decline in population of the city.

The district contains a total of 144 buildings, primarily dating from the early 1880s to the mid-1960s, but also including twelve newer structures.

Businesses also included undertakers, livery stables, banks, barber shops, photographers, hotels, restaurants, saloons, and billiard parlors.

Many of the buildings in the area housed fraternal and service organizations on the upper floors, including the Masonic Temple, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Ancient Order of United Workmen, Sons of St. George, Improved Order of Red Men, Scandinavian Aid and Fellowship Society, Knights of the Modern Maccabees, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), Ste.

In addition to commercial establishments, the district also housed government buildings, including the county courthouse, city hall, and post office.

[2] A large tract of nearly vacant land, which once contained the Chapin Mine and related structures, abuts the district to the north.

Some of the most significant structures located within the Iron Mountain Central Historic District are listed below in the order of construction.

This unnamed store, constructed c. 1883 for Richard Williams, is probably the oldest extant commercial building in Iron Mountain's downtown district.

In 2018, the south wall of the original building was painted with a mural that welcomes people into downtown Iron Mountain through the Power of Words Project.

The front entry is edged with 1950s-looking random ashlar masonry, and the windows are modern; however, the basic shape of the building is still original.

The First Presbyterian Church is a wooden Late Victorian/Stick style structure with a cross-gable roof, a red sandstone foundation, and a pyramid-roof square tower with an open belfry.

The Chicago & North Western railroad reached Iron Mountain in 1880, at which time a wooden passenger depot was constructed.

The depot is a long, narrow, single-story building with walls faced with limestone on the lower portion and brick above.

A slant bay window projects from the midpoint of the side originally facing the tracks, with a large semi-octagonal dormer directly above.

This courthouse and the associated jail was built in 1896 from plans by architect James E. Clancy of Antigo, Wisconsin, a former Iron Mountain resident.

The medieval-inspired jail was designed to complement the courthouse; it is a two-story structure built of red brick and sandstone, capped with stone battlemented parapets and a tin roof.

The Iron Mountain High School was constructed in 1911/12 after voters approved a $100,000 bond issue to finance a new building.

The depot is a long, narrow single-story red brick structure of simple design with a hip roof that projects widely on all sides.

However, they soon defaulted on their loan, and the building went through a series of owners and tenants, including use as warehouse space by Montgomery Ward from about 1962 to 1977.

There are paired and single windows on the second floor, and a tall attic containing arches filled with basketweave brickwork.

It has a two-story base running the length of the building (including the 1964/65 addition), with a five-story tower section rising in the center of the original 1929 structure.

The terra cotta trim is lavish in its detailing, including ramshead plaques capping the piers, panels containing stylized plant forms, and large eagles at the corners of the tower's roofline.

The front facade is symmetrical, with two square-plan buttressed towers flanking a deeply recessed center entrance below a narrow gable.

The Iron Mountain Junior High School was constructed in 1938 from a design by local architects F. E. Parmalee & Son.

The church is a Neo-Gothic structure of random ashlar over concrete block with a square tower and a steep gable-roof nave.

[2] It is an L-shaped two-story International Style flat-roof school building, constructed of red brick with limestone trim.

A flat metal canopy covers the entryway, and it contains large windows set in bands and outlined in limestone.

The building is a flat-roofed two-story structure with a single-story extension at each end, built of brown brick trimmed with concrete.