File:Diamond Match is America's oldest operating match company. It was active in Ontonagon County for many years, by 1883 employing (3c038899-1dd8-b71b-0b43-ccae52fdf596).jpg

Historical photo overlaid onto a present day photo

Diamond Match is America's oldest operating match company. It was active in Ontonagon County for many years, by 1883 employing over 500 men at lumber camps in and around Ontonagon County. West of the mouth of the Ontonagon River stood its lumberyards, mills and manufacturing facilities. The company store stood on River Street in the village of Ontonagon, across the slough from the mills. Originally built by Horace H. Rich and the Ontonagon Lumber Company, the store was taken over by the Diamond Match Company when it took over the lumberyard and area timberlands. Measuring 110' x 110', it featured an elevator and skylights to showcase its $20,000.00 of inventory that included a wide variety of goods, from foodstuffs to furniture. Across the slough from the store, the lumberyard was stacked high with pine set to dry before being made into matches. A forest fire to the west of the Ontonagon River would become the most devastating fire in Ontonagon's history when lumber began smoldering near the Diamond Match Company's mills. On August 25, 1896, strong winds carried the fire across the river to the village, where it destroyed nearly 340 buildings, sparing only 12. Nearly two thousand people were made homeless and left to rebuild. The company store went #MissingintheCopperCountry alongside most of pre-1896 Ontonagon. Diamond Match tapered off its Ontonagon operations over the following years, never rebuilding the company's mills or store.