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Wertins had locations in Calumet (then called Red Jacket), Norway and some other cities in the UP. The stores go back to the 1800's. There is an old general store in Calumet at 412 5th St which may be the old Wertins. The Wertins was at 454 but the lot is very close.
Excerpt from Mining Gazette:
Peter Ruppe, Sr. for example, was born in Slovenia in 1823. Emigrating to America in 1854, he left a wife and three sons behind. In 1864, he arrived in Hancock. There, he partnered with another Slovenian immigrant, Jozef Wertin (Joseph Vertin) in establishing a general store in that town. Ruppe and Vertin dissolved their partnership on friendly terms, both opening their own stores. Both opened branch stores in Red Jacket.
Joseph Wertin’s son established his family’s branch store in Red Jacket in 1868, the same year Peter Ruppe’s son did the same thing. Wertin,’s, according to a History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Wertin, who later became Vertin, did an extensive business as dealers in general merchandise. Vertin’s boasted having eight employees in the Red Jacket store, and carried an average stock of $40,000; they have the main store at Hancock; have a half interest in the Lake Linden Brewery, and are large stockholders in the Grand Portage Copper Mine.
Wertin, Jr., was born in Austria in 1842, and emigrated to America in 1862; he made his home in Chicago till the following spring, and then came to Lake Superior. In 1867, he established himself in business at Hancock with his father, and in 1869 came to Red Jacket to take charge of the store at this place. Wertin has served as a member of the Village Council five years.