| The tracks to Northport were built by the Traverse City,
Leelanau, and Manistique; a company formed by the Grand Rapids and Indiana
to build and operate a car ferry from Northport to Manistique, on Michigan's
Upper peninsula. The route left Traverse City on tracks of the Manistee and
Northeast. Seven miles out, at Hatches Crossing,
the M&NE turned west and the tracks to Northport split off onto its own
right-of-way. The line was completed in 1903 and proved to be immediately
unsuccesful. By 1908 the car ferry was gone for good. In 1919 the line was
purchased by the Leelanau Transit Company, then leased to the Manistee and
Northeastern. Tracks were later operated by Pere Marquette, and C&O.
As late as 1940, there was still a daily except Sunday passenger train to
Northport. Tracks north of Suttons Bay, on to Northport, were abandoned in
the 1960's.
The present Northport depot was built in 1920 by the Leelanau
Transit Company, replacing the earlier depot which burned. The depot is somewhat
altered by additions to the front and rear of the building but well maintained
and in use as an insurance agency. |
