The location of this cache is near the former C&O depot, on the former rail right of way that is now the southwest terminus of the Fred Meijer Heartland Trail. This cache can be driven to, but is on the trail which is not accessible to motorized vehicles.
Pere Marquette depot, Greenville, courtesy of RRHX
The first rail line though Greenville was started by the Ionia and Lansing Railroad and completed by the Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad. The line connected Greenville with Ionia in 1870 and was completed to Howard City in 1870-71. The DL&LM was reorganized in 1876 as the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad. The DL&N was again reorganized in 1897 as the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western Railroad. In 1899 the DGR&W was purchased by the new Pere Marquette Railroad.
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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. The original Ionia to Howard City line became redundant and was abandoned in 1942 and 1943. The Cheseapeke and Ohio Railroad had gained control of the PM in 1929 and merged it 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.
Greenville, 1921 plat. PM depot is in blue, TS&M in green.
In addition to the depot, still standing, is the engine house, several hundred feet to the north. Additional photos of Greenville can be seen on the RRHX site below.
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