Calumet owed its existence to the Korean War. When fighting broke out in Korea in 1950, the vulnerability of American airspace to Soviet long-range bombers became an urgent concern. On July 11, 1950, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the Secretary of Defense for approval to expedite the second segment of a permanent radar surveillance network. Approval came ten days later, and the Air Force directed the Army Corps of Engineers to begin construction. Air Defense Command selected the Keweenaw site in late 1951 as one of twenty-eight stations in this second wave. The 665th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron activated on November 27, 1950, and began operating AN/FPS-3 and AN/FPS-5 radars at the northern Michigan site in early 1953. On December 1, 1953, the installation was officially designated Calumet Air Force Station.

Calumet initially functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept and warning station. The squadron's primary mission was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified targets detected on their radar scopes -- a critical role given that the Keweenaw Peninsula juts far into Lake Superior, placing Calumet's radars along a likely approach route for Soviet bombers crossing the pole. The station's equipment evolved steadily through the 1950s: an AN/FPS-6 replaced the original height-finder radar in 1956, and an AN/FPS-20 search radar arrived in 1958, later upgraded to an AN/FPS-64 by 1961. In 1960, Calumet joined the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment system, feeding data to the SAGE Direction Center at K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The station also served as a Backup Interceptor Control site, ready to take over directing interceptor aircraft if SAGE Direction Centers were knocked out.

The 665th Radar Squadron was redesignated multiple times as the Air Force reorganized its defense structure. It passed through assignment to the 30th Air Division, the 37th Air Division, the Sault Sainte Marie Air Defense Sector, the Duluth Air Defense Sector, and eventually the 24th Air Division. In October 1979, with the inactivation of Aerospace Defense Command, Calumet came under Tactical Air Command jurisdiction through ADTAC. The station's equipment continued to be upgraded and modified through the years, cycling through radar systems as technology advanced. Under Lt. Col. Scott Meyer from 1985 to 1987, the men and women of the base earned the Outstanding Unit Award. On September 30, 1988, after nearly four decades of operation, Calumet Air Force Station finally closed for good.

Following closure, the station was reconfigured as a Joint Surveillance System site operated by the Federal Aviation Administration, cycling through additional radar systems including the AN/FPS-27, AN/FPS-91A, and AN/FPS-116. Ownership of the broader facility transferred to Keweenaw County. Part of the site was used by the Keweenaw Academy reform school, and some facilities found second lives supporting cellular, amateur radio, and other communications. As with many decommissioned military installations, the buildings degraded without maintenance. Then, in August 2021, a group of Michigan Technological University alumni purchased the facility and surrounding land, announcing plans to remediate environmental issues and develop the site into a tourist destination -- a new chapter for a hilltop that spent the Cold War watching for threats that never came over the horizon.