[2] Like other mines in the area, Quincy had its own stamp mills, but did not produce enough copper to justify the investment of operating its own smelter.

Before 1860, when the Lake Superior Smelter opened in Hancock, copper was shipped out to be smelted in cities such as Boston or Detroit.

[8] As a result of low copper prices and the onset of the Great Depression, the Quincy Mining Company ceased operations on September 22, 1931.

[13] The reclamation plant began operating in November 1943,[13] and made use of a floating dredge that vacuumed tailings from the lake.

[12] With the end of the war, copper prices again decreased and the mine ceased operations permanently on September 1, 1945.

[12] Around the same time, the Copper Range Company closed the Michigan Smelter and contracted its smelting needs with Quincy.

[16] In 1986, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed the Torch Lake Superfund site on the National Priorities List, with the Quincy Smelter included as an Area of Concern.

An 8-foot-tall (2.4 m) chain link fence was built around the site, and geotextile fabric and riprap were added to stabilize the shoreline.

[24] In September 2010, a fire destroyed the carpentry shop and damaged a wood storage lean-to on the site.

[17] In 2014, Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission purchased the smelter from Franklin Township.

[34] The Quincy Smelter site juts out from the shoreline of the Keweenaw Waterway, built on stamp sands from the former Pewabic mill.