Turning Back the Track of Time: Hillsdale’s Historic Railroad

Home Features Turning Back the Track of Time: Hillsdale’s Historic Railroad
Turning Back the Track of Time: Hillsdale’s Historic Railroad
Andrew Dixon | The Collegian

The scene is Monroe Street, Hillsdale, MI. Standing on the platform of the old depot, you wait and listen. When will it arrive?  

“That eerie sound of a train whistle blowing triggers memories of a distant time in the past when 40 or more trains per day ran through Hillsdale County, with 22 routed through the city of Hillsdale,” local historian Dan Bisher wrote in his history of Hillsdale, entitled “Faded Memories.”  

It all started in 1843 when a young surveyor in civil engineering took a gamble. With the help of a few colleagues, he invested in funding the town’s train line, called the Michigan Southern Railroad. 

In September of the same year, the state of Michigan ran out of funds, leaving the project unfinished. Entrepreneurs and the founders of Hillsdale, Henry Waldron, John Cook, Charles Ferris, and Charles Mitchell then bought shares at $0.42 on the dollar. Within a few years, the railroad was booming. 

In its beginnings, the Michigan Southern railroad started with a total of 10 trains, running a line from Monroe to Adrian, MI. Speeds reached a maximum of 14 mph. 

“The engines weren’t very powerful so when they reached big hills, since Hillsdale county has the highest elevation, the conductors would have people actually get out and push,” Bisher said. As resources became available, the line extended further west to the city of Hillsdale. Such a development opened the eyes of  Hillsdale residents to the outside world. 

Throughout its use, the town’s railroad operated as both a freight and passenger train. The farmers of Hillsdale and the surrounding counties used their wagons to haul loads of crops to the depot. Before the depot, farmers needed to travel south to Fort Wayne, Indiana, or other distant areas to reap the benefits of their crops. Warehouses lined the streets to keep up with the demand. As a result, 40 trains passed  through Hillsdale county daily, and 22 through the city of Hillsdale.

By 1852, the Michigan Southern Railroad connected to Chicago in the west, turning Hillsdale County from the end of a route to a major stop along the train line. The presence of the railroad influenced the culture, economy, and life of the Hillsdale community. Log cabins transitioned into luxurious residences. Hotels, saloons and other lower establishments of the community diminished as commerce increased and the line expanded. 

The railroad also transported the students and faculty of Hillsdale College during semester breaks. As the 1860s rolled around, the train was a reliable means of  transportation during the Civil War and even up through WWII. During the Civil War, as historian Anne Buzzel notes, the train carried “5,000 barrels of flour daily.”

The depot also housed many curious sightings. In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt stopped there on his way to an address in Lansing and gave a speech to a gathering crowd of Hillsdale residents from the end of a train. Foreigners also frequently used the railroad to travel west. The depot hall was often filled with endless chatter– ranging from German and French to Polish and Russian– as folks waited for the train.

As the railroad prospered, Waldron and his colleagues sold the railroad to a gentleman named Ray Gould. Along with the struggle for power and control over the railroad came the clashing of heads. In a series of heated disputes, Cornelius Vanderbilt, railroad king of the New York line, wrestled with Gould for the MS line. Vanderbilt eventually succeeded, at which point he merged the train line together with his own, called the New York Central System. 

Eventually, commerce expanded north to Lansing, south to Fort Wayne, east to Detroit, and west to Chicago. The line continued to prosper until the late 1950s. 

As the technological advancements of the airplane and automobile developed, the use of the Hillsdale county railroad became less and less necessary. On Nov. 19, 1956, the last passenger train left the station for Toledo. Memoirs from witnesses of the train line’s closure expressed appreciation for the railroad’s dramatic impact on Hillsdale county.  

“The history of the railroad is also the history of the college and the community, because it put this little place out in the middle of nowhere in touch with the rest of the country and the world,” said Bisher. 

After sitting for years in disuse, the Indiana Northeastern line claimed ownership of the tracks in 1992, reopening the doors for commerce on rails in the town of Hillsdale. Although the passenger train has since ceased operation, the memory continues to exist in the old depot. Today, Hillsdale Orthodox Presbyterian Church cares for the upkeep of the building. The same cobblestone platform of the late 19th and early 20th century remains amidst the strands of grass that grow through its cracks. If you want to relive the experience of Hillsdale in the days of the locomotive, visit the old depot. Close your eyes and listen as you hear “that eerie sound of a train whistle blowing” down the tracks.