KINGSFORD, MICHIGAN
by Suzy Miller, September 3, 2026
WHERE IS KINGSFORD, MICHIGAN?
Kingsford is in Dickinson County in Michigan’s southern Upper Peninsula, directly south of Iron Mountain and beside the Wisconsin border. The Menominee River forms part of the city’s western and southern boundary.
M-95 runs through Kingsford and connects with US-2 and US-141 in nearby Iron Mountain. Kingsford had 5,139 residents as of the 2020 census.
KINGSFORD, MICHIGAN HISTORY
The Menominee people inhabited the region for centuries, living by hunting, fishing and gathering wild rice. In 1634, French explorer Jean Nicolet reached Green Bay and Menominee country.
He is the first known European to encounter the Menominee. French missionaries and fur traders followed. As late as 1920, only about 40 people lived in what became Kingsford.
That changed when Henry Ford established a lumber and automobile-parts operation near Iron Mountain. Ford's first cousin, Mary Minnie Frances Flaherty, was married to Edward G. Kingsford.
In 1919, Kingsford joined Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone and naturalist John Burroughs on a camping trip through the Upper Peninsula. Ford was seeking hardwood for his automobiles; each Model T required about 100 board feet of wood.
Kingsford helped Ford acquire more than 300,000 acres of U.P. timberland. In 1920, he became vice president of the Michigan Iron, Land and Lumber Company, formed to operate Ford’s new sawmill and auto body plant.
The Vagabonds 1923, L-R: Harvey Firestone, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Edward G. Kingsford.Construction brought thousands of workers. Ford built more than 100 employee houses, and the growing community was named for Kingsford. It was incorporated as a village in 1923.
Ford absorbed the lumber company that year, and Kingsford remained on as general manager. The plant made wooden automobile components and later bodies for Ford’s wood-sided station wagons (the Woody).
During World War II, it produced Waco CG-4A military gliders, ultimately building 4,190 of them.
Ford Plant in Kingsford, Michigan during its heyday
Ford also wanted to put the plant’s sawdust and scrap wood to use. Thomas Edison helped design a facility that converted the waste into charcoal briquettes, initially marketed as Ford Charcoal.
Edward Kingsford stayed local and died in Iron Mountain in 1943, two months after his wife. Ford closed its Kingsford operations in 1951, but charcoal production continued under new ownership.
The product took the Kingsford name, which survives on the familiar charcoal brand sold today - a Yooper secret. The charcoal production moved in the 1960s but is still going strong.
KINGSFORD, MICHIGAN TODAY
Kingsford today is closely connected with its sister city, neighboring Iron Mountain. Retail trade, health care and manufacturing are important sources of employment.
Reminders of its Ford heritage include the Ford Addition neighborhood, Ford Airport and Ford Dam. The Kingsford High School athletic teams are known as the “Flivvers,” an old nickname for Ford’s Model T automobile.
The yearly Flivverfest in July has music, axe-throwing and fun, and raises money for Kingsford High School athletics.
Kingsford has everyday shopping and small specialty businesses, but it is not primarily a tourist shopping destination filled with galleries, boutiques or antique stores. Visitors will find considerably more shopping and dining in adjoining Iron Mountain.
1925 house on Edsel Street in the Ford AdditionOutdoor recreation is a bigger attraction. The forests and waterways that surround Kingsford have hiking, fishing, hunting, paddling and camping. In winter there's skiing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling.
The Menominee River has additional fishing and boating opportunities, making Kingsford a convenient base for exploring the southern U.P.
KINGSFORD, MICHIGAN THINGS TO DO,
PLACES TO STAY, PLACES TO EAT,
AND PLACES TO LIVE
TRIPADVISOR INFO FOR KINGSFORD, MICHIGAN
KINGSFORD, MICHIGAN REAL ESTATE
KINGSFORD, MICHIGAN INTERACTIVE MAP
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