KALAMAZOO, MI
Kalamazoo, MI Amtrak Station, December 1998
| Kalamazoo's Amtrak station was designed by Cyrus Eidlitz
and built by the Michigan Central Railroad in 1887. It was constructed of
brick and red sandstone in the Romanesque style, with a red tile roof.
As originally built, the station had three separate buildings, connected
only by covered walkways, not the brick
walls seen today.The main building, 73' x 40', had separate men's and
woman's waiting rooms, a ladies toilet, a ticket office, and a conductors
room on the second floor. There was a port cochere (covered carriageway)
on the street side of the main building. The smaller building to the west,
19' x 36', was for the mens toilet and a battery storage room. The east building,
which was the same size, had a telegraph room on the track side and a baggage
room at the rear.
In the early 1970's The city of Kalamazoo bought the depot
from Penn Central and adapted the building to serve as a bus/train station.
At about the same time, Amtrak bought the tracks from Kalamazoo, westward
to Porter, IN. |
Street side, now a bus station.
 |
Another interesting railroad building is located just east
of the station. BO tower was built to control the crossing of the Michigan
Central by the Grand Rapids and Indiana and the old Lake Shore and Michigan
Southern tracks. The tower is still open 24 hours a day seven days a
week. |
Conrail freight, northbound, turns off old LS&MS track onto Conrail,
headed east.
Old postcard view showing trackside and west end.
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