The location of this cache is on the site of the Stanton Depot, on the former right of way of the Pere Marquette rail line. The right of way is now the Fred Meijer Heartland Trail.
"Photo courtesy of Michigan Railroad History (RRHX), Alan Loftis collection."
Stanton, Pere Marquette Depot, Courtesy of RRHX, Alan Loftis Collection.
Stanton:
In 1860, the people of Montcalm County voted to move the county seat from Greenville to this central location within the county. Forty acres of land were purchased from one Fred Hall of Ionia for the sum of fifty dollars. The place was named Fred in his honor. The first settler was Levi Camburn who became the first post master on March 10th, 1862. The village was renamed Stanton in 1863, honoring the Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The village was platted in 1865 and incorporated as a village in 1869. In 1881, it was reincorporated as a city. It remains the count seat of Montcalm County.
Ionia, Stanton and Northern Railroad:
The first rail line to Stanton was incorporated and built as the Ionia, Stanton and Northern and was completed in 1872. It was consolidated into the Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad on October 1st, 1872. On December 21st, 1876, the DL&LM was reorganized as the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad. The line was eventually extended by the DL&N through Edmore, Wyman, Remus and on to Big Rapids. In 1897, the DL&N was reorganized as the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western. On December 7th, 1899, the DGR&W was sold to the Pere Marquette Railroad which commenced operations on January 1st, 1900.
In 1900, the PM purchased the Grand Rapids, Belding and Saginaw Railroad, which, in 1899, connected Lowell with Belding. In 1901,the PM built a connection between Greenville and Stanton. This line became part of the Grand Rapids to Saginaw Main Line. Heavy trains regularly traveled this line, which shortened the distance substantially over traveling from Ionia to Howard City and then east.
"Courtesy of White Pine Library, Stanton and Michigan Genealogy on the Web, Montcalm County. Click on the image."
Train leaving Stanton, for Greenville. IS&N line to Sheridan and Ionia is on the right.
The Cheseapeke and Ohio Railroad had gained control of the PM in 1929. By then, traffic on the original IS&N line was down to one train a week. On January 16th, 1929, there was a derailment near Fenwick that took the lives of two railroad employees. There are unconfirmed reports that the train that derailed was the last train that ran on the branch. The line between Ionia and Stanton was abandoned by the PM by 1933.
The PM was merged into the C&O in 1947. The C&O operated the Saginaw Division until 1987. At that time, the line was sold to the Mid-Michigan Railroad. The portion between Greenville and Edmore was abandoned (and east to Alma was abandoned in and after 1988 and has become the Fred Meijer Heartland Trail. The portion from Elmdale (south of Lowell) to Greenville was operated by the Mid-Michigan which used the Greenville depot as its headquarters. With the closing of the Frigidaire plant in Greenville, the Mid-Michigan abandoned the line between Greenville and Elmdale in 2007. The Lowell to Greenville segment is in the process of being improved as the Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Trail.
Sources:
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