Railroads in Mackinaw City Posted April 5, 2019 An early 1880s ad for the Grand Rapids and Indiana. Although platted in 1857, Mackinaw City remained undeveloped until about 1870. By then a village stood on the shores of the Straits of Mackinac, and steamboats linked the community with cities around the Great Lakes. However, the town remained small and isolated until 1881, when the first train arrived. The Michigan Central Railroad was the first to reach Mackinaw, running north from Detroit through Saginaw. George Stimpson, an early settler and prominent resident, drove the final spike. A year later, the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad also reached the straits, linking Mackinaw City with Traverse City, Grand Rapids, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. On the north shore, meanwhile, the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad ran west from St. Ignace across the Upper Peninsula. The railroads brought increased traffic to the straits and Mackinaw City grew quickly, formally incorporating as a village in 1882. (more…)
From the Archives: Passenger Travel Posted January 26, 2018 1926 Today, most visitors arrive at the Straits of Mackinac via automobile. Before the 1880s nearly all arrived by water aboard passenger steamers. Great Lakes passenger ships continued to ply the inland seas into the twentieth century, but in ever dwindling numbers through the decades, and ended in the late 1960s. The railroads reached here in the early 1880s, allowing easy land transportation for the first time. Automobile travel gradually supplanted rail beginning in the 1910s. (more…)
