This cache is hidden on the CIS Trail, formerly the grade of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad.
Third St. Johns Depot, now home of the Clinton Northern Railway
Second St. Johns depot, around the turn of the century
St. Johns:
The town of St. Johns was created on paper when a party of four state officials were examining the right of way of the proposed Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad, for purposes of land speculation. One of the four was John Swegles, an official with newly chartered railroad, who exercised his authority make purchase of land here. He cleared the land and platted the village and named it for himself. A Baptist minister, Rev. C.A. Lamb, added Saint to the name. The Bingham post office, originally created three miles south in 1851, was moved to the new town in 1854, in anticipation of the new railroad, and renamed Saint Johns on February 6th, 1855.
1914 Eastbound DGH&M/GTW passenger train that just left the St. Johns depot
The railroad finally arrived on January 14th, 1857, and St. Johns became a railroad town and the county seat. The D&M built a wooden depot and facilities to service engines. In 1868, a larger, brick depot was constructed at the base of Oxford Street. It served the town until it was all but destroyed by a tornado in 1920. The current Depot was constructed that year to take its place at the foot of Spring Street, one block west, next to the freight house. From 1902 through 1929, the depot was also served by a branch of the Michigan Electric Railway, from Lansing to the north side of the Depot. Today, the depot is owned by the city and houses the Clinton Northern Railway, a model railroad and museum. If you are visiting this cache on a Sunday in the summer, plan on visiting the historic depot. See the link under Sources (below) for more information.
1896 plat of the rail corridor and downtown St. Johns, 1896, Freight house and second depot in red.
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.
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 theCanadian 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.
For additional fun:
Be sure and visit the Clinton Northern Railway if you are here on a summer Sunday. See the link below for their website. Special thanks to them for the use of their photo.
Sources:
- Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad, Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railway
- Grand Trunk Western Railroad
- Clinton Northern Railway
- Fred Meijer Clinton-Ionia-Shiawassee Trail
- 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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