Railroad Depots Of Michigan

Michigan has a rich railroad history, which began in November 1836, when the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad initiated service between Toledo, Ohio, and Adrian, Michigan. That first Erie and Kalamazoo train consisted of stagecoach-like vehicles linked together and pulled by horses. Steam locomotive-hauled trains were still eight months in the future. As these new transportation entities grew and prospered, they put in place more elaborate station buildings in the communities they served. By the end of the 19th century, some of the larger railroad stations being built in Michigan were works of art in their own right. But whatever size and form they took, railroad stations were uniquely styled buildings, and there was generally no mistaking them for anything else. This volume portrays some of Michigan's finest railroad stations during their heyday in the second decade of the 20th century.

A photographic survey of 31 railroad stations around the state of Michigan with architectural observations and short histories of each. When the railroad revolutionized passenger travel in the nineteenth century, architects were forced to create from scratch a building to accommodate the train's sudden centrality in social and civic life. The resulting depots, particularly those built in the glory days from 1890 to 1925, epitomize the era's optimism and serve as physical anchors to both the past and the surrounding urban fabric. In Michigan's Historic Railroad Stations writer and photographer Michael H. Hodges presents depots ranging from functioning Amtrak stops (Jackson) to converted office buildings (Battle Creek) and spectacular abandoned wrecks (Saginaw and Detroit) to highlight the beauty of these iconic structures and remind readers of the key role architecture and historic preservation play in establishing an area's sense of place. Along with his striking contemporary photographs of the stations, Hodges includes historic pictures and postcards, as well as images of "look-alike" depots elsewhere in the state. For each building Hodges provides a short history, a discussion of its architectural style, and an assessment of how the depot fits with the rest of its town or city. Hodges also comments on the condition of the depot and its use today. An introduction summarizes the functional and stylistic evolution of the train station in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and surveys the most important academic works on the subject, while an epilogue considers the role of the railroad depot in creating the American historic-preservation movement. The railroad station's decline parallels a decrease in the use of public space generally in American life over the last century. Michigan's Historic Railroad Stations will reacquaint readers with the building type that once served as the nation's principal crossroads, and the range of architectural styles it employed both to tame and exalt rail transportation. Readers interested in Michigan railroad history as well as historic preservation will not want to miss this handsome volume.

Based on the popular Lost In Michigan website that was featured in the Detroit Free Press, It contains locations throughout Michigan, and tells their interesting story. There are over 50 stories and locations that you will find fascinating.

Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companies is an invaluable reference manual for everyone interested in regional transportation history, the history of railroading, and Michigan history in general. It contains complete, cross-referenced listings for every company formed to operate a railroad in the state of Michigan. In addition to the comprehensive entries for major lines, Graydon Meints has included details about the many small, common-carrier steam and electric companies, logging roads, and numerous other primitive and contemporary rail systems. This encyclopedic reference guide also contains information on the so-called "paper railroads," companies that were projected but which never laid a foot of track. Michigan Railroads is divided into three parts. One includes alphabetical entries for the actual and intended railroad companies themselves, the date and purpose for their organization, and a brief history from their origins to their dispositions. Included in this portion of the work are a number of railroad "family trees" showing the corporate antecedents of the largest of the rail lines operating in the state today. Another contains a chronology of significant corporate events; it works as a useful finding aid for accessing source data contained in the first section. A third contains a statewide county-by-county listing of railroads, both paper and real.

The first rail lines in northeast Ohio opened for business in July 1850, and by the 1890s, northeast Ohio was laced with railroad tracks. Cleveland was the hub of railroad activity, and important rail-served lake ports developed at Ashtabula, Conneaut, Fairport Harbor, Huron, and Lorain. Akron became a center of southerly east-west lines. Over 310 passenger and combination depots were established at various points along the railroads to serve the needs of passengers traveling throughout northeast Ohio. Depots were the focal point of communities--news arrived over their telegraphs, traveling salesmen gathered on the trackside platforms, depot staff maneuvered four-wheel wagons loaded with baggage, parcels, and milk cans, locals gathered to meet, greet, and send off family and friends. The depot was a veritable beehive of activity at train time. Railroad Depots of Northeast Ohio offers a glimpse into these golden years of train travel through the use of early postcards and photographs of selected depots and related structures.