Traverse City Record-Eagle

Record-Eagle 150th Anniversary

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November 29, 2008

Railroads in Traverse City by 1892

By 1892, three railroad lines served the city:

Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad

The G.R. & I was the first to enter Traverse City on Nov. 15, 1872. It leased a 26-mile spur from Traverse City to Walton Junction for 46 years from the Traverse City Rail Road Co. until the local company dissolved in 1918.

In 1873, it started a daily express train south that left Traverse City at 8:30 a.m., and arrived in Grand Rapids at 5 p.m. and Kalamazoo at 6 p.m. Its service here peaked about 1900, when it ran up to six passenger trains a day during the summer, and carried in thousands of summer visitors a year on "resort specials."

It also established a cross-lake car ferry service to Manistique and constructed the Traverse City, Leelanau and Manistique Railroad in 1903 from Traverse City to Northport in a failed attempt to boost revenues. The Pennsylvania Railroad, which always had a controlling interest in the G.R. & I., took it over in 1921.

The Chicago and West Michigan Railroad

The first C&WM; train rolled into Traverse City on Sunday, July 8, 1891. A special train from Traverse City, with 100 local citizens and a brass band on brightly decorated flatcars traveled out to Beitner Station, south of town to meet it.

The C&WM; was the result of an 1881 merger of the Michigan Lake Shore Railroad and three smaller lines linking Pentwater and other west Michigan villages. It didn't have a depot until it bought land along West Bay from Morgan cannery just east of Union Street and adjacent to the Hannah, Lay grist mill south of there. In 1899, the C&WM; consolidated with the Flint & Pere Marquette and the Detroit, Grand Rapids & Western to form the Pere Marquette Railroad.

The Manistee & Northeastern

The first MN&E; train pulled into the Traverse City depot on June 29, 1892. Hannah, Lay & Co. donated its dock front and depot grounds and local citizens purchased the rights of way from Carp Lake to Traverse City. The Manistee logging firm of Buckley and Douglas founded it in 1887 to go deeper in the forests for hardwoods.

Within a few days of its arrival in Traverse City, it linked the city to Manistee with stops at Carp Lake, Hatch's Crossing, Fouch, Solon, Cedar Run, Lake Ann, and Interlochen. Its passenger service peaked in 1915 with 190,000, but freight service declined with the demise of the lumber era.

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  • WILLIAM MILLIKEN
    After looking back, we look to the future

    In this last installment of the Record-Eagle's year-long 150th Anniversary History Project series, native son Bill Milliken ponders the future, including the question: What will the Traverse City area be like in 2159?

    Continued ...
    Nov 8, 2009 7:14 am 9 Photos
  • Derek Bailey: Cooperation is key
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    I am excited and optimistic in thinking about my predictions for the area and Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians for the next 150 years. Clearly, we live in one of the most beautiful areas of Mother Earth. The GTB Tribal Nation has grown exponentially as an area and tribe over the last 29 years. We must now sustain and channel that growth.

    Continued ...
    Nov 8, 2009 7:12 am 1 Photo
  • George McManus: Manage resources
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    The Grand Traverse Region is blessed with abundant renewable natural resources, which properly managed, will remain for the next 150 years and beyond. The community of the future depends on what direction the citizenry and leadership decide to take and external influences over which they have no control.

    Continued ...
    Nov 8, 2009 7:11 am 1 Photo
  • Marsha Smith: Listen to each other
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    The Grand Vision has shown me that the people of this region love it here and have a commitment to building a better future. We care about what happens here and we care about the future. My main concern is that we sometimes forget about all things we hold in common and focus more on what keeps us apart.

    Continued ...
    Nov 8, 2009 7:11 am 1 Photo
  • Joe VanderMeulen: Plan for six generations
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    We need to look forward across six or more generations of people to see 150 years into the future. What wonderful changes there may be, if we choose wisely, just get lucky, or some of both. Of course, we face many threats to our security and survival. The risks of deadly pandemics, global climate change and unimaginable wars are real.

    Continued ...
    Nov 8, 2009 7:10 am 1 Photo
  • November 2, 2009
  • Women helped build Traverse City
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    Women helped build Traverse City's library system, schools and hospital. They lobbied for clean water and clean streets. They were concerned about the needy, child labor, reforestation, international peace and the right of women to vote. They did this largely through two local women's clubs -- the Ladies Library Association and the Traverse City Woman's Club.

    Continued ...
    Nov 2, 2009 6:17 am 4 Photos
  • TC's early women leaders

    Thirteen women who influenced early Traverse City are profiled.

    Continued ...
    Nov 2, 2009 6:15 am
  • October 31, 2009
  • TC history exhibit visits TADL

    The Record-Eagle's traveling exhibit of Traverse City and newspaper history will be on display throughout November at the Traverse Area District Library on Woodmere.

    Continued ...
    Oct 31, 2009 9:30 pm
  • October 19, 2009
  • Loraine Anderson: TC's 1925 earthquake
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    Earthquakes are rare in Michigan, but Traverse City residents definitely felt the earth move beneath their feet and watched electric ceiling lights sway overhead on Feb. 28, 1925. "EARTHQUAKE HERE FIRST EVER FELT: Dishes Rattle, Chairs Rock, Smokers 'Swear Off' and People in High Places Come Down," Record-Eagle headlines shouted after tremors rattled the city at 8:27 p.m. that Saturday night.

    Continued ...
    Oct 19, 2009 7:00 am 1 Photo
  • October 5, 2009
  • Water Wars: Advocating for 'public trust'
    Jim Olson

    It was a busy summer on the water front for Great Lakes advocates in what environmentalists and others are calling "The Water Wars."

    Continued ...
    Oct 5, 2009 6:18 am 3 Photos
  • October 3, 2009
  • R-E editorial decries water diversion

    Record-Eagle concern about Great Lakes water diversion dates to the early 1900s, including a Jan. 14, 1925, editorial about the U.S. governments challenge of Chicagos right to divert Lake Michigan water without consulting its neighbors.

    Continued ...
    Oct 3, 2009 9:55 pm
  • Summary of summer Great Lakes water issues

    Great Lakes water issues this summer included the following.

    Continued ...
    Oct 3, 2009 9:55 pm
  • September 28, 2009
  • 150 Years: Bay served as sewer, water supply
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    The Boardman River in Traverse City wasn't a pretty sight at the turn of the last century. It was a city sewer, and it flowed into West Bay, the source of the city's water supply.

    Continued ...
    Sep 28, 2009 7:18 am 7 Photos
  • August 10, 2009
  • 150 Years: Cartographer maps settlements
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    Helen Hornbeck Tanner, a Beulah summer resident and historian of Great Lakes American Indians and cartography, created a new historical map of the Grand Traverse region that traces early American Indian and white settlement.

    Continued ...
    Aug 10, 2009 6:39 am 2 Photos
  • July 27, 2009
  • Loraine Anderson: Tracking Titus
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    Harold Titus has been one of my favorite Traverse City historical characters since I read "Timber," his 1922 novel, last year. He intrigues me for many reasons. Part of his mystery is that he is virtually unknown today. He is "new" local history.

    Continued ...
    Jul 27, 2009 8:06 am 1 Photo