The collection consists of four reports prepared by the Montreal Mining Company over a ten year period and concerns the extension and improvement of employee housing in company towns. (Montreal's mining properties were in the Ironwood District, located in the northern Michigan peninsula and on both sides of the Wisconsin-Michigan state line. Company housing, built near each mine, was needed to accommodate the new employees hired for the expanding production program.) The August 1921 report analyzes housing built by other companies including Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, and Minnesota Steel Company. The report discusses the various types of homes constructed, methods of ownership, and styles of landscaping and planning used by these firms and makes recommendations for Montreal's housing needs. The October 1921 and March 1923 reports describe existing housing conditions on the company's mining properties and offer suggestions for improvements and new housing development. All three reports include maps of the area, proposed street plans, floor plans, photographs and sketches of houses, and proposals covering all aspects of the new development such as sewers, water, electricity, painting, landscaping, even the type of street signs to be used. The reports also discuss estimated improvements, construction, and repair costs on the new development for the following twenty years. The final report (1931) shows the progress made on the housing project since 1921, again with extensive photographs and floor plans of the new homes as illustrations.
