Depot History Importance to the Village

It's difficult today to imagine a time when a community's sole link to the outside world was the local train station. The Depot was a focal point of the community, it housed the telegraph office and provided access to the services of the railroad. If a community wanted to grow, a railroad connection was essential, as trains offered the only practical way to move people, farm produce, and manufactured goods over long distances.

In fact, the lack of rail transportation could severely hinder, or even prevent a community's economic growth as large-scale enterprise of any sort was virtually impossible without it.

Therefore, the coming of the railroad to Vicksburg in the 1870's was recognized immediately as the key to the future for the economic success of the town and the surrounding area.

Vicksburg was particularly fortunate in its rail connections because it became an intersection of a north-south line, the Grand Rapids & Indiana, and an east-west line, the Peninsular Railroad, later becoming the Grand Trunk.

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Grand Trunk Crew

In 1900, Vicksburg's old wooden depot burned to the ground, probably ignited by sparks from a passing steam locomotive prompting construction of the existing building.

At the time sixteen passenger trains and fifty freight trains stopped every day. In winter there was even more traffic because the Grand Trunk harvested ice on Sunset Lake (see the ICE HARVEST page). A one-way ticket to Kalamazoo cost .25 and you could travel to Indian Lake for six cents - see the photograph at the bottom.

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During much of the 19th century a common locomotive design was used on most American railways with 4 large driving (power) wheels and 4 smaller load-bearing or guide wheels. It was called the "American Standard" design. Locomotives of this designs most likely were early visitors to the Vicksburg Depot.

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Examples of a typical "American Standard" design

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A comparison of the "American Standard" locomotive and a later design

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MAIL SERVICE

One of the many benefits of the railroad was improved mail service; mail no longer had to come overland by stage coach. The mail was sorted during transit on board the trains, then bagged for distribution to stations along the route.

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An early railroad mail sorting car

Outgoing mail was picked up at the depot by passing trains and sometimes they didn't even stop to pick up the bag. If a particular train wasn't scheduled to stop at the depot, mail was put in a catcher pouch, tied in the middle and placed on an arm attached to a pole by the tracks. There it could be snagged with a hook by a clerk leaning out of the mail car as it moved past the depot at 30 to 40 miles per hour. Main bags destined for Vicksburg would just be heaved out onto the platform as the train rolled by. Bags of arriving mail was hauled uptown to the post office by a mail messenger one of whom was Harry Freeman. According to Claire Clavell, a long time postal employee, Freeman made seven trips a day beginning at 5 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m.

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C. J. Clark, seated, and unidentified associates in a mail car, 1912.

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RAILROAD ADVERTISING

The Grand Trunk Rail Road used local papers to advertise schedules and rates:

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A 1904 advertising contract with the Wolverine Crank newspaper

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A 1911 advertising contract with the Semi Weekly Herald and Grand Rapids & Indiana

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Railroad schedules as they appeared in the Vicksburg 1904 Wolverine Crank

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MORE DEPOT VIEWS

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The Vicksburg Grand Rapids and Indiana water tower.

In the days of steam railroading, closely spaced water towers were necessary as locomotives needed to replenish water more often than coal. This view shows the Grand Trunk water tower and, directly behind it, the ice loading platform - see the SUNSET LAKE ICE HARVEST page.

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Vicksburg's old depot burns, 1898

Train wreck at the depot, 1920

Train wreck at the depot, view 1

Train wreck at the depot, view 2

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Vicksburg depot, 1918 - little girl is Donna Lemon O'brien

see Lemon Park on the Village Views page

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Depot Museum Page 4

Kalamazoo County USGenWeb Site