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Amos Rogers Harlow was a businessman from Worcester, Massachusetts. In the 1840s he formed the Marquette Iron Company with Robert Graveraet and Waterman Fisher to make iron near the newly discovered ore deposits.
Landing on the lake
In July 1849 Harlow arrived on the shore of Lake Superior with workers, supplies and Graveraet’s party, which included a young Peter White. They chose a spot on a natural harbor and called the settlement Worcester, after Harlow’s hometown.
The next year the name was changed to Marquette, after the French missionary Jacques Marquette.
The forge
The company built a forge to turn ore into iron blooms. It was hard going. Fire, cold and the cost of shipping made the business shaky, and the company did not last.
Staying on
Harlow stayed in Marquette. He served as the first postmaster and remained active in business and civic life. Harlow Park and Harlow Lake north of the city carry his name.
Within a few decades, with railroads and ore docks, the rough settlement had become the Queen City of Lake Superior. Harlow lived to see it happen. He died in 1876.
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