This tan and green depot stands in the small town of Bloomingdale. It is between Kalamazoo and South Haven and the depot was originally called the Kalamazoo and South Haven Railroad Depot, it was completed in December 1870. Harvey Howard, owner of the local sawmill, and his brothers Zenas and Joseph supplied the lumber and built the depot. Its original location was an acre of land donated by Augustus Haven. The park built on the depot grounds in 1912 is named in Haven’s honor. The first passenger train arrived in Bloomingdale on July 4, 1870. The railroad stopped using the rail line in the 1970s. It is now part of the Kal-Haven Trail State Park for bikers and hikers to enjoy. Bloomingdale is about the halfway point of the 33 mile trail.

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Alden is a beautiful little tourist town on the east side of Torch Lake. It’s probably most known for the Alden Mill House but I also like this old train depot south of town. A historical marker next to it reads:

In 1891-92 the Chicago and West Michigan Railway, precursor to the Pere Marquette Railroad, extended the line between Traverse City and Petoskey through Spencer Creek. William Alden Smith, the railway’s general counsel, advocated the line through Spencer Creek, and in 1891 the town renamed Alden in his honor. Its location aided travel and shipping between Chicago and Petosky, supporting agriculture, lumbering and eventually tourism. The Pere Marquette built this depot in 1907 to replace one that burned in 1906. Northern Michigan newspapers called it the railroad’s finest depot north of Grand Rapids. In 1981 the last train left Alden. Helena Township acquired the depot in 1986.

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I took this photo from the other side of the tracks on a freezing cold Michigan evening, but I love the way the Durand Union station looks all decorated for the Holidays.

Built in 1903 by the Detroit firm of Spier and Rohns it had a high volume of rail traffic as the Grand Trunk Western and Ann Arbor railroads crossed in Durand. It was almost destroyed by fire in 1905, but quickly rebuilt. At its peak, 42 passenger, 22 mail, and 78 freight trains passed through Durand on a daily basis and it serviced almost 3,000 passengers a day.

In 1974, Grand Trunk Western decided to close the station due to declining traffic. The historic building was going to be torn down, however, the city of Durand filed for an injunction to stop the demolition and eventually purchased the station in 1979 for $1.00 and I think it was the best one dollar investment in the state of Michigan.

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The brick train depot in Albion has been welcoming visitors since 1882. It served the town for decades greeting passenger trains until 1972. It was eventually restored and is still used today by Amtrack and as a bus depot.

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In downtown Battle Creek standing along the river with the same name as the city is this fantastic old train depot. The railroad tracks are gone now and the last passenger train left the station in the 1980’s. I can imagine the in its heyday the passengers coming and going thru this station on their journey looking up at the clock tower to see if they are on time.   Trains no longer use the station but it is still used as a restaurant.  It also has a Michigan Historical Marker with a sign that reads:

The Michigan Central Railroad Depot opened on July 27, 1888. Rogers and McFarlane of Detroit designed the depot, one of several Richardsonian Romanesque-style stations between Detroit and Chicago in the late nineteenth century. Thomas Edison as well as Presidents William Howard Taft and Gerald Ford visited here. The depot was acquired by the New York Central Railroad in 1918, Penn Central in 1968 and Amtrak in 1970. The depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

A much as I like driving around the state I have always wondered what it would be like to travel the state by train, I guess I was born a little late for that.

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The old coal tower and railroad station in New Buffalo was a busy place decades ago. It was the largest train yard in Southwest Michigan and many steam trains would stop to get fuel and water. The old station is now a railroad museum and I am thinking it has been a long time since trains stopped for coal to fire the boilers. If you want to visit the museum you can learn more on their website HERE

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I know I am sometimes lost in Michigan but I am not that lost to be in Moscow Russia. The town of Moscow Michigan can be found along historic US-12. The first settlers came to the area in 1831 and it was Alonzo Kies who came to the area from Moscow, New York, and gave the town its Russian name.  The old railroad depot is now used as a township hall but a historical marker gives some info and reads:

A grand celebration and a baseball game greeted the Michigan and Ohio Railroad when its track reached Moscow on September 4, 1883. This Stick Style station, completed the following month, was “quite an ornament to the place,” according to the Hillsdale Standard. The two-room depot serviced mail, freight, and passengers for the two freight and two passenger trains passing through Moscow each day on the Michigan and Ohio’s Allegan – Toledo line. In 1887 the Cincinnati, Jackson and Mackinaw Railroad purchased the Michigan and Ohio and its depots. Successive railroad companies maintained the depot until around 1930 when the New York Central closed the line. In 1933 the building became the Moscow Township Hall.

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The southwestern Michigan town of Three Oaks was named after, you guessed it, three oak trees that stood nearby when the area was settled in 1850. This adorable little brick depot was constructed in 1898. It was used by the railroad until 1959. The little depot sat empty for years before it was restored in 1980. It is now used for retail and community space.

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