COPEMISH/THOMPSONVILLE, MI
Copemish Depot, July 2002; now in Glen Arbor
| Between 1876 and 1892, James Ashley built a railroad
running 292 miles, between Toledo and Frankfort, Michigan. In that same year,
1892, the first cross-lake car ferry, Ann Arbor No. 1 was launched. Short
distance car ferries were already carrying railroad cars across the Detroit
River and the Straits of Mackinac. But Ann Arbor No. 1 was the first built
to take railroad cars over the open waters of Lake Michigan. Initially
there were some problems; two of the first three trips ran aground and some
cargo was damaged. As this operation was improving, the nation went into
the Panic of 1893. That and a strike led the railroad into bankruptcy.
The Ashleys lost control, and in 1895, the railroad was reorganized as the
Ann Arbor Railroad.
The carferries stated operating again in 1896 and proved
to be very successful. Eventually the Ann Arbor operated three carferry routes
across Lake Michigan, from Frankfort to Manitowoc and Kewanee, WI and to
Manistique, MI. Over the years the Ann Arbor earned its living as a bridge
line for east-west traffic. Less than 10% of its traffic was for on-line
customers.. |
 |
About 20 miles southeast of Frankfort, the Ann Arbor
crossed two different lines headed north for Traverse City, the Pere Marquette
at Thompsonville, and the Manistee and North Eastern at Copemish. |
| In Copemish, the railroads
shared a union station. It was 18' x 70', built in 1892 at a total
cost of $2140, and owned 50/50 by the M&NE and Ann Arbor. In Thompsonville,
the Ann Arbor and Pere Marquette each had their own depot.
The Ann Arbor depot was built in 1898. It was 16' x 32'
and cost $2294 to build. There was a bay window on the front, set under a
large dormer. Both ends had a door beside the bay window, another window
on the front, and two windows on each end, suggesting separate mens and womans
waiting rooms. The roof brackets had a
circle in the center and a downward pointing finial, a design common to Ann
Arbor depots. |
Pere Marquette and Ann Arbor Depots in Thompsonville
| In 1917 the Copemish Union depot burned down. Rather
than building a new depot, the Ann Arbor depot from Thompsonville was moved
to Copemish, to be shared by the Ann Arbor and the M&NE. It was placed
so that it faced the crossing, not parallel to either track.
In 1931 the Pere Marquette bought the M&NE. Their tracks
ran parallel between Kaleva, to the south, and Interlochen, to the north.
So around 1934, the M&NE tracks through Copemish were torn up. The depot
remained but was turned to face the Ann Arbor tracks. One end of the depot
was converted to a freight room, and later had a very short door cut into
the track side, allowing a hand car or "speeder" to be stored
inside.
The publication of the
Ann Arbor Railroad Technical
and Historical Association, The Double A (Spring-Summer 1998), has an
excellent article on the Copemish depot, complete with photos from 1934 and
the 1960's.
In 1973 the Ann Arbor went bankrupt. To retain rail service
to northern Michigan, the state bought the northern part of the Ann Arbor's
tracks. The route , including the carferry, was operated by different contractors
over the next few years. In 1982, the state drastically cut back its railroad
subsidies, and the Ann Arbor carferry service ended. Tracks remain in service
as far as Yuma, site of a sand mine, but the far west end of the Ann Arbor,
including tracks through Copemish have been abandoned.
At some time the Copemish depot was moved about 30 miles
north to Glen Arbor. It now is part of a gift/garden shop called
Wildflowers. Their web site includes
a virtual tour clearly showing the depot. |
Track Side/Freight Room End
Street Side View of Depot in Glen Arbor
|
