Best Web Design in Kingsford, MI (2026)

Web Design for Kingsford, Michigan

Kingsford is a small city in Dickinson County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on the Menominee River right beside Iron Mountain. It was built as a company town around Henry Ford's 1920s wood-products plant and is the birthplace of Kingsford charcoal briquettes, made originally from the factory's scrap wood. During World War II its Ford plant produced more Waco CG-4A combat gliders than any other manufacturer in the nation.

AppWT serves Kingsford and the surrounding Michigan area from Livonia, Michigan.

About Kingsford

Also known as. Home of the Flivvers. Birthplace of Kingsford Charcoal.

History. Henry Ford had eyed the Upper Peninsula's iron and timber since 1912 and contacted local real estate agent and Ford dealer Edward G. Kingsford to acquire raw materials. Edward G. Kingsford had married Mary Frances 'Minnie' Flaherty, a first cousin of Henry Ford, and brokered Ford's purchase of 313,447 acres of land. Construction of the Ford operation began in 1920, when the settlement had only about 40 residents; Ford-related employment peaked around 7,500 workers by 1925. The community was incorporated as a village in 1924 and as a city in 1947, named in honor of Edward G. Kingsford. Henry Ford II closed the sawmill and parts plant in 1951 and sold the chemical operation to local businessmen, who formed the Kingsford Chemical Company and kept producing the charcoal, renamed Kingsford Charcoal Briquettes.

Local economy. The Ford Motor Company plant built wooden station-wagon bodies starting in 1931 and processed hardwood through distillation. Charcoal was the leftover byproduct of that wood distillation, launching the charcoal-briquette business that became the Kingsford brand. Later and current-era employers in the area include Grede Foundries and a nearby paper mill.

Culture and community. Kingsford High School's teams are the Flivvers, a nickname in use since the early 1930s derived from 'flivver,' 1920s slang for the Ford Model T, honoring the town's Ford roots. The city's identity is tightly bound to its Ford company-town origins and the globally recognized Kingsford charcoal name.

What makes Kingsford distinct. The city is literally named after Henry Ford's cousin-by-marriage, Edward G. Kingsford. From 1942 to 1945 the Kingsford Ford plant built 4,190 Waco CG-4A gliders, more than any other U.S. maker and at lower cost. To move the finished gliders, workers cut a cleared path 120 feet in diameter running all the way to Ford Airport. Kingsford charcoal, sold worldwide today, began as a way for Henry Ford to profit from scrap wood left over from building car bodies.

Kingsford Landmarks and Local Life

• Ford Airport - built to serve the Ford operation and the WWII glider factory
• The Menominee River - which forms the city's border with Wisconsin
• The Pine Mountain Ski Jump in the adjacent twin city of Iron Mountain - one of the world's tallest artificial ski jumps and host of FIS Continental Cup competitions