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Due to the increasing number of ex-PM structures listed on this Web site, this section of the Web site has been broken into several pages by geographic region.

PM Structures Still Standing In Eastern Michigan

This list encompasses known former PM structures that are still standing in Michigan, east of a line running north and south through Lansing. Many of these are not actually preserved, per se, rather they are simply standing. Structures that are in imminent danger of demolition are indicated.

Allenton, Michigan

This ex-Port Huron & Southwestern depot was originally located on the west side of North Road on the south edge of Berville. It was moved during 1995 to a park along Capac Road, just south of Allenton, approximately three miles northwest of Berville, where it is being restored by volunteers working in conjunction with the Berlin Township Parks and Recreation Commission.

An article by T.J. Gaffney on this depot and the restoration effort was published in the May, 1996 issue of PM Tracks.

Bay City, Michigan

Located along Jefferson Street, this large brick structure was at one time slated for conversion into a restaurant by the Clara's restaurant chain.  Their plans included reconstruction of the large clock tower which used to rise above the roof on the side of the building shown in the accompanying photo. This impressive depot, along with several outbuildings (removed during the 1980s) was built in 1904. It has undergone extensive renovation and is available for rental as a meetings and events space.

Carleton, Michigan

This brick tower guarded the crossing of the ex-PM and ex-DT&I lines (most recently CSX and CN North America) until it was recently closed and condemned by CSX. It sits in the northeast corner of the crossing, at the intersection of Ash and Jones Streets in the center of Carleton.

This tower was slated for demolition many years ago, but still stands.

Clio, Michigan

This wooden depot stands on the north side of state highway M-57. It is currently used as a local historical museum.

Coleman, Michigan

This wooden depot sits on the south side of North Saginaw Street (Old US-10), just east of where the PM's ex-Saginaw and Mount Pleasant branch to Mount Pleasant diverged from the Ludington Subdivision main line, west of Coleman.

Fowlerville, Michigan

• Fowlerville Depot - This depot, along the west side of Grand Street, is still used by the CSX Signal Maintenance Department.

• Howell Depot - This depot has been moved from its original site along the CSX main line at Howell to the rear of the Fowlerville Fairgrounds, along Grand River Avenue, west of Fowlerville. It was formerly the meeting place of LaNTrak, the Lansing-area N-Trak model railroad club.

Grand Blanc, Michigan

This depot, at 320 Grand Blanc Road, sits angled in such a way as to suggest an earlier alignment of the PM through town. It now houses a resale shop and an electrical contractor's office.

Holly, Michigan

This brick tower stands a few blocks east of the GTW's brick passenger depot in Holly, on the north side of the junction of CN North America's Detroit-Durand route and CSX's Toledo-Saginaw route. It has been unmanned for many years.

Photo by Paul Quintus

Novi, Michigan

Novi Depot - Although this depot is less than fifty feet from the Grand River Avenue overpass, it is easily overlooked by passing motorists. It is on the property of a feed and fertilizer dealer south of Grand River Avenue, west of Novi Road, and appears to be unused.

Owosso, Michigan

New Buffalo Turntable - Until mid-2001, this 90-foot turntable sat in front of the roundhouse at New Buffalo, Michigan. It was acquired by the Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation, moved to Owosso and extended ten feet. It has been installed and is now used to turn the locomotives at the Steam Railroading Institute.

Plymouth, Michigan

• PM Roundhouse Remains - This brick structure is all that remains of the roundhouse that used to stand in the northeast corner of the junction at Plymouth.

  
  

• PM Freight House Remains - This wooden structure is the only section that still remains of the curved freight house that used to sit along the southeast leg of the wye at Plymouth. This portion was moved across both Starkweather Street and the tracks when the freight house was torn down, was once a hobby shop, and is now used as office space.

  
  

Saginaw, Michigan

• Potter Street Station - The Potter Street Station was built in 1881 for the Flint & Pere Marquette. It was used as a passenger depot by the F&PM, the PM and the C&O until 1950. The C&O and Chessie System continued to use the three-story brick structure until 1986.

  In 1990, the Saginaw Depot Preservation Corporation was formed as a non-profit group to purchase and preserve the Potter Street Station. While the group was in the process of purchasing the station, an arsonist set a fire that destroyed the station's roof and damaged the second floor. Unfortunately, the firefighters responding to the blaze thought that the depot was abandoned and made little effort to extinguish the fire. It was only after several hours of insistence by Saginaw Depot Preservation Corporation members that the firefighters actually went to work and contained the damage to the roof and second floor. The photos on this page were taken two years before the fire.

  In the aftermath of the fire, the members of the preservation group have faced numerous challenges in their drive to save the building from demolition. Ultimately, the Preservation Corporation received a court order protecting the structure. It has been listed on the State Register of Historic Places, and the National Register of Historic Places.

  
  For more information on this enormous PM preservation project, contact the Saginaw Depot Preservation Corporation, P.O. Box 5575, Saginaw, MI 48603.

  
  

 

• F&PM Machine Shop - This structure is what remains of the 1881 Flint & Pere Marquette machine shop, north of the mainline, just east of Washington Street. It was originally part of a much larger complex on this site, which at one time included the main F&PM roundhouse in Saginaw. It is still used, but as a materials storage building.

 

• Mershon Tower - This tower and an adjacent storage shed were moved from the junction at Mershon (at the west end of the ex-PM drawbridge across the Saginaw River), to the Saginaw Railway Museum in 1988. At the time, this tower was 100 years old, and suffered damage which has largely been repaired. Internally it is intact, containing all of the interlocking equipment that was used for many years at the junction of the Pere Marquette, the Michigan Central, the Grand Trunk Western, and (at one time), an electric interurban line.

• Saginaw River Drawbridge and Tower - The PM (and CSX today) crossed the Saginaw River just west of the intersection of Washington and Potter Streets, about a quarter mile west of the Potter Street Station. This six-span bridge was placed into service in June, 1945, replacing the structure built in 1893. This was the first structure on the east end of the PM's Ludington Division.

  
  

 

• Hemlock Depot - This depot was originally constructed in 1907, in the village of Hemlock, about a dozen miles west of Saginaw, along the PM's line to Alma, Greenville and Elmdale. Chessie System's maintenance department stopped using this structure in 1976, from which time it stood vacant until it was acquired and moved by the Saginaw Valley Railroad Historical Society to be used as the basis for the Saginaw Railway Museum in 1983.

  At its current location (900 South Maple Street), it sits on top of a basement which houses an HO scale model railroad. Both the interior and the exterior of this structure have been carefully restored by Museum members.

  Also owned by the museum are Mershon Tower (see below), several boxcars, an ex-PM caboose (#A977), and an ex-GTW GP7 diesel locomotive in working condition.

  
  

St. Louis, Michigan

After being used as a storage building for the Mid-Michigan Railroad, in July, 1999 this depot became the home of the St. Louis Area Historical Society. It sits along the east-west portion of the former "Turkey Trail" line between Saginaw and Grand Rapids. It sits at 110 Crawford Street, just east of the US-27 Business Route, south of downtown.

Sanford, Michigan

The Sanford Historical Society now owns this wood frame structure, built in 1870 and moved to the grounds of the Sanford Centennial Museum, located on the north side of old US-10 on the west bank of the Tittabawassee River. The Sanford Centennial Museum also features a former Michigan Maple Sugar Company switcher, ex-PM steel caboose #A951, an ex-Chessie boxcar, and an ex-C&O wooden caboose.

Williamston, Michigan

The Williamston depot now sits on a lot along Grand River Avenue, where it now serves as the Williamston Depot Museum. Through the efforts of a groups called the Shagbark Questers No. 999, it was moved from its South Putnam Street location and renovated.

Photo by Eddie Gross, Eddie's Michigan Railroads. Used with permission.

Other Structures Not Pictured On This Site

The following ex-PM structures are still standing in Eastern Michigan, but are not yet depicted on this site:

Saginaw, MI roundhouse