| Alanson is in the far north of Michigan's lower peninsula,
only about 20 miles from Mackinaw City. The Grand Rapids and Indiana built
its line through there in about 1880.
In 1857 the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad had won a
land grant to build a railroad from Grand Rapids to Traverse City. By 1869
they had made very little progress and the state ordered the railroad to
surrender its charter. Desperate to save their railroad, the Indiana interests
behind the GR&I, turned over construction of the line to the Continental
Improvements Co., which was controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The
Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad was built from Fort Wayne, IN through
Kalamazoo, to Grand Rapids, MI in 1870. The Pennsylvania took the land grants
and had a nice feeder to their main line.
The GR&I was absorbed into the Pennsylvania RR in 1921.
The line was operated by Pensy successor, PennCentral, but the line north
of Grand Rapids was not selected for inclusion in Conrail.
The Michigan Department of Transportation bought the entire
GR&I line from Grand Rapids to Mackinaw City in 1975 and contracted the
Michigan Northern Railway Company to operate the route. In the mid 1980's
state money ran out and the line was abandoned. |
