Attracted to the abundant snows of the western Upper Peninsula, Norway native Carl Tellefsen quickly made his mark on the local skiing scene, eventually serving as founder and first president of the National Ski Association. The Association steadily grew in popularity and was a natural choice to house the National Ski Hall of Fame, which opened in 1954. Today the National Ski Association is called the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, and Ishpeming is known as the “birthplace of organized skiing in America.”
Source : Michigan Historical Calendar, courtesy of the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University.
For a related article, see Vivian M. Baulch, “Michigan’s long history of ski jumping”, Detroit News, Feburary 1, 2002.