This cache is hidden on the CIS Trail, formerly the grade of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, west of Owosso.
Photo courtesy of the Shiawasseehistory.com
Owosso Junction, late 1800s, Junction Hotel taken from the Junction Depot, looking east.
GT (D&M) on right, MC (JL&S) foreground, AA (TAA&NM) passed left of hotel
Owosso Junction:
Owosso Junction was the location where the Grand Trunk Western, Michigan Central, and Ann Arbor Railroads interchanged on the west side of the city of Owosso. At the junction there was a hotel called, aptly, the Junction House, and a Union Depot that all three railroads made stops at. It is not clear which railroad owned the depot. Plat maps show it "sqquare" with the D&M/DGH&M suggesting that it was owned by the predecessors of the Grnad Trunk Western. Owosso Junction was about 2/3 mile west of the main GTW Owosso depot (still standing).
In the photo above, the train is eastbound on the GTW mainline from Detroit to Grand Rapids and Grand Haven. The MC track between Lansing and Saginaw is between people and junction depot. AA main between Toledo and Frankfort is behind photographer.
In the photo above, the MC main is at the bottom of the picture and the GTW main is right of hotel, AA behind and left of hotel.
Courtesy of UofM Digital Library, marked up by AGHudley. Click plat to view atlas.
City of Owosso outline, 1895, snowing locations of railroad stations
Owosso:
The City of Owosso, first known as Big Rapids, was settled in 1836. A post office opened with the name Owasso on November 4th, 1938, with Daniel Ball as the first postmaster. The settlement was named for Chief Wasso whose tribe moved from the area onto a reservation in 1836. The spelling of Owosso was used as early as 1844, but wasn't officially adopted until 1875. Owosso was incorporated as a City in 1859.
On November 11th, 1911, the city of Owosso was hit by a devastating tornado which laid waste to factories and homes alike, putting at least 200 people out of work. The tornado damaged the roofs on the Junction House hotel and the Junction depot. It isn't clear if either was rebuilt.
The map above shows the outline plat of Owosso in 1895 with the approximate location of the four railroad stations at that time. The D&M had become the DGH&M and the J&LS had become the MC. The TS&M connector between the DGH&M and TAA&NM is visible just west of the junction. The map also shows a fifth depot that replaced the original MC depot north of Main Street some time after 1908 and prior to 1916. This may have been the result of the 1911 tornado. It isn't clear which railroad owned the depot at the junction. Plat maps show it aligned closely with the D&M (later GT) but the fact that MC built a new brick depot at the MC and AA diamond in this time frame suggests it could have been owned by the Michigan Central. Sanborn Fire Insurance maps strangely do not cover the immediate junction area.
Courtesy of UofM Digital Library, marked up by AGHudley. Click plat to view atlas.
Close up plat of Owosso Junction, 1895. Junction depot in green, Junction House Hotel in pink.
Railroads:
The first railroad to arrive in Owosso was the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad, reaching Owosso on July 1st, 1856. It was followed by the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw (later Michigan Central, New York Central) in 1858. Last came the Toldeo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan (Ann Arbor) in 1886. The Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon gained trackage rights over the AA to Ashley in 1888. Owosso became a railroad town overnight and continued to grow over the years.
The second map above is a close up of the junction area. The TAA&NM (future AA) and DGH&M (former D&M, future GTW) depots are off the right border. The MC (former J&LS) depot is just off the top of this plat. The plat shows the location of the Owosso Junction Depot and the Junction Hotel. All four railroads made stops at the Junction Hotel.
The D&M:
The Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad was created in 1855 as a consolidation of the Oakland and Ottawa Railroad and the Detroit and Pontiac Railroad. The D&M then built a cross-state line from Pontiac to Grand Haven where a cross-lake ferry service was established. The line reached Owosso on July 1st 1856, St. Johns on January 14th1857, and Ionia on August 12th, 1857, and Grand Rapids on July 4th, 1858 and Spring Lake August 30th of that year. By November 22nd, 1858, a station had been established on the west bank of the Grand River across from Grand Haven.
In 1878, the D&M went into receivership and was purchased by the Great Western Railroad, who reorganized it as the Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee. In 1882, the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada gained control of the Great Western. On November 1st, 1928 the DGH&M was merged into the Grand Trunk Western, a subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway.
In 1930, the GTW moved its cross-lake car ferry service from Grand Haven to Muskegon and operated it there until 1977, abandoning its route to Grand Haven and eventually purchasing a line west of Marne and into Muskegon from the Pennsylvania Railroad. After the ferry service ended, business declined. In 1987 the line from Owosso to Muskegon was sold to Central Michigan Railroad. In 1993, the Grand Rapids and Eastern bought the portion between Fuller (in Grand Rapids) and Ionia and operates it as far as Lowell, primarily serving the flour mill there. The portion from Lowell to Ionia was abandoned and has become the Fred Meijer Grand River Valley Trail. The portion from Owosso to Ionia has just become the Fred Meijer Clinton-Ionia-Shiawassee Trail.
Photo by AGHudley (Silent Whistles) © 2015
Owosso Junction in 2015, taken from east side of former juction wye looking west.
The photo above shows vacant land where the Junction Hotel, Junction Depot and the old MC mainline used to be. The foreground trackage is former GT (D&M, DGH&M) main that used to go to Grand Rapids and Grand Haven, but now is only the lead to industrial spurs on the west side of Owosso. The track visible on the far right in the background is the old AA (TAA&NM) main (now Great Lakes Central), still in service to just beyond Cadillac. The MC (JL&LS) main used to cross the GT and AA about 250 yards west, with the hotel was about 200 yards west on the right side of the track and the Owosso Junction depot was just beyond the hotel. The TS&M connection between the GT and AA curved right beyond the depot site. The wye legs between the GT and the MC curved both left and right about 50 yards west, just beyond the far switch.
For more fun:
Visit the Steam Railroading Institute (see link below) at what was the Ann Arbor railroad yards about a mile east of the junction. They have lots of interesting railroad displays.
Sources:
Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad, Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railway
Grand Trunk Western Railroad
Fred Meijer Clinton-Ionia-Shiawassee Trail
Steam Railroading Institute, Owosso, MI
Michigan Railroads & Railroad Companies, Meints, Graydon M., Michigan State University Press, © 1992.
Michigan Railroad Lines, Meints, Graydon M., Michigan State University Press, © 2005.
Michigan Place Names, Romig, Walter, Wayne State University Press, © 1986.
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