Holly, MI; Union Station

South side, Holy, MI Depot, November 2002

Back in the 1840's ships were the preferred method of transportation. In Michigan, many rail lines were built to connect ports on the east and west coasts of Michigan. The Michigan legislature promoted this concept in chartering the Oakland and Ottawa Railroad in 1848. It was to run from Detroit to a port on Lake Michigan, somewhere in Ottawa County. This line was completed to Grand Haven, by the Detroit and Milwaukee RR, in 1858, aided by a land grant for the section between St. Johns and Grand Haven. Steamships did extend this route to Milwaukee and other Lake Michigan ports. Beginning in 1903, the Grand Trunk had its own fleet of carferries, serving Milwaukee.

Holly is about 40 miles northwest of Detroit, on the route of the old Detroit and Milwaukee, which came under control of the Grand Trunk Railroad in 1878. A 1928 merger officially made the route part of the Grand Trunk. In the 1990's, the Grand Trunk was merged into Canadian National.

There were two earlier D & M depots in Holly. The first was a very primitive building, thrown up as part of the initial construction of the railroad. The "permanent" depot seems to have been poorly constructed and not well maintained. There were many complaints made to the railroad about the condition of the depot, but nothing was done. It got to the point where the Holly depot became the laughing stock of the line. In August of 1884 the depot caught fire. The fire department was on the scene within minutes, but the fire hydrants and hoses seem to have frozen. The depot burned to the ground.

The replacement depot, shown on this page, was designed by George Mason, chief architect and engineer for the D&M Railroad. It was built in 1886. The depot is just to the northwest of the crossing with the Pere Marquette/CSX line running to Saginaw, and was built as a "Union Station" to also serve the PM. The south side of the building faces the D&M/GT/CN tracks. On the north side is a track which curves off the PM/CSX route .

This was a just passenger station. A separate freight station was built just to the west. Each railroad had its own office/ticket window in the middle of the building, with a large bay window facing the tracks. West of the offices was a lunch counter and the general waiting room. East of the offices was the ladies waiting room. In addition to offering a refuge to women and children from the foul-mouthed, tobacco-spitting, cigar-smoking men of the times, it had its own heat and indoor plumbing with hot water.

East End.

North Side / West End.

North Side Bay Window, November 2002.

Old Postcard view of former Grand Trunk side.

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