[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 95 (Wednesday, June 30, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  KINROSS TOWNSHIP CELEBRATES ITS CENTENNIAL AND ITS ECONOMIC RECOVERY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BART STUPAK

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 30, 1999

  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to residents of 
the Charter Township of Kinross, who are celebrating their centennial 
with a spirit of optimism. The celebration and the optimism of this 
northern Michigan community is especially inspiring, Mr. Speaker, 
because Kinross Township continues to struggle economically to recover 
from the Air Force decision to turn out the lights and turn the key on 
Kincheloe Air Force Base in September 1977. This military departure, 
which occurred far before the formal base closure program of the early 
1990s, left a shell of an economy, a ghost of a community, and 
infrastructure and pollution problems that still must be dealt with 
today.
  Kinross Township is working hard on its own recovery. The Centennial 
Ceremonies are an affirmation of that effort and a rededication to its 
fulfillment. The Centennial lets many township residents look back to 
their roots in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where their 
ancestors settled as lumbermen and farmers after the railroad opened up 
the territory.
  Quilting has knit the community together for generations, and a 
special community quilt and a community blanket highlighting the area's 
history are among the Centennial activities.
  The proximity of the Soo Locks guaranteed a U.S. military presence 
somewhere near Sault Ste. Marie to guard this vital facility. The locks 
were an essential link between the Great Lakes of Superior and Huron in 
bringing Great Plains wheat and iron ore from Minnesota and northern 
Michigan to lower Midwest ports and steel mills. The airport at Kinross 
was designated in June 1941, eventually growing to become a Strategic 
Air Command base and serving as home to B-52H bombers and KC-135 
tankers. The base was named Kincheloe for Air Force Capt. Ivan C. 
Kincheloe Jr., a Michigan native, Korean War ace, and test pilot killed 
in an accident over the Mojave Desert in 1956.
  An impact study prepared by the Air Force at the time of the closing 
noted Kincheloe was a $55 million per year operation, with a 
significant portion of that funding spent in the local area. The impact 
of the loss of this income on the businesses and permanent residents of 
this largely rural area can only be imagined.
  I have worked closely with community officials in Kinross, Mr. 
Speaker. Unlike our most recent base closing, which have included 
environmental cleanup of military sites before their turnover to 
civilian ownership and operation, and which have included large 
infusions of economic aid, the recovery of Kinross has been to a large 
extent a bootstrap effort. We have had some joint successes, such as 
the designation of the former base as the nation's first rural site to 
be designated a ``brownfield,'' and we have worked to obtain funding 
for the former airport, now Chippewa County International Airport.
  It should be noted that, although Kinross already had its name in the 
1880s and had a post office for a short time in 1898, it was not an 
established township until a Mr. Albert Curtis, a man with vision and 
foresight, went to the Chippewa County Board of Supervisors in Sault 
Ste. Marie with a request to create a township. His proposal rejected, 
Mr. Curtis caught a train for Lansing, where he caught the state 
legislature in session and made the same request. Successful in this 
effort, he returned to Kinross, where he was elected supervisor in the 
township's first election, April 3, 1899. Mr. Curtis was to hold that 
office on and off for 24 of the next 36 years, part of his remarkable 
record of service to his community.
  I have confidence, Mr. Speaker, that the people of the Charter 
Township of Kinross will one day view the closing of the air base as 
merely another step, albeit a painful one at the time, in the unique 
history of this area. The recent development of extensive snowmobile 
trails, five Michigan Corrections Department facilities and thriving 
area businesses signal a resurgence.
  Like the community quilts, the essential fabric of Kinross Township 
remains intact, and new elements continue to be woven into the area's 
rich history. Mr. Speaker, I invite my House colleagues to join me in 
wishing the best for the people of Kinross Township on the occasion of 
their centennial.

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