Flint and Pere
Marquette Railroad Depot
Date Visited: August 3, 2019
Stop: #44
Like many towns and villages
in the thumb, Marlette got its start as a result of the timber industry. The first settlers in the area were from
Ontario, Canada, who were lured to this area by stories of tall timber and
fertile soil. The first settler to the
region was Robert Stinson, an early ancestor of the legen – wait for it – dary
Barney Stinson (sorry about that shout out to How I Met Your Mother –
I couldn’t resist). In all seriousness,
Robert was the first person to claim government land in the area. In October, 1856, a committee of settlers
petitioned the Sanilac County Board of Supervisors to allow the growing
community to become a township. The name
chosen was suggested by William Rudd, who found the name “Marlatt” carved into
the end of a log used in the construction of a shanty across from his
farm. Marlatt apparently was the name of
the mother of two young men who had come to this area to build a mill, but
failed to do so, returning to Canada a short time later. But not before carving their mother’s name
into the log of their shanty. William
Rudd found that carving and suggested using the name Marlette, a form of the
word Marlatt, as the name of the new township.
The township was officially established in 1859.
The first teacher arrived in
the area in 1858. That same year, the
first church was built in the township and served both the Methodist and
Baptist congregations. Recognition of
Marlette as a village came in 1865 and was incorporated in 1881. Marlette survived the two major fires that
tore through the thumb (the Great Fires of 1871 and 1881), but their impact
changed the economic landscape of the new village. With no timber left, the community turned to
farming.
The Port Huron and Northwestern
railroad was extended to Marlette after citizens raised $15,000 (Over $340,000
when adjusted for 2017 inflation) for construction of the tracks. The tracks
were completed in January 1881, and helped bring Marlette into a new era of
prosperity. In 1889, the Port Huron and
Northwestern Railroad was purchased by the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad.
The Pere Marquette Railroad began with the merger of three lumber railroads,
the Flint & Pere Marquette, the Detroit, Grand Rapids & Western, and
the Chicago & West Michigan. Eventually,
the tracks were further extended to East Saginaw, creating a total run of 90
miles.
The Marlette Train Depot was
built in 1890 by Flint contractor E.M. Stewart to accommodate the station
master and passengers. This was the subject of our next stop on our Eastern
Thumb Tour, located a mere 0.28 miles south of the Marlette Library. Located along the railroad tracks on the east
side of South Van Dyke (M-53), this historical site was a favorite place for us
to hang out while eating ice cream from Moore’s. The depot was built with a double waiting
room, a ticket and administration office, and a baggage room. The depot’s
interior and exterior woodwork is beautiful and well crafted. It was very extravagant for this region, but it
was an indicator of the prosperity that came as the result of being a town on a
railway. The Marlette Train Depot is
also an example of a late 1800s railway station. Other examples include the
railway depots in Pigeon, Capac Museum and Depot, and the restored 1903 Port
Hope rail station.
The railway was key to the
economic growth of the Thumb’s agricultural business. By 1910 Marlette was a twice-a-day
stop for passengers and freight between Port Huron and Saginaw. The United States Railway Administration
nationalized America’s railways during World War I, so the Marlette depot saw
service by sending freight and troops to fight in the Great War.
The last passenger service out
of Marlette ended in 1936. In 2001, the depot was included in the State of
Michigan Registry of Historic Places. With its restoration in 2006, the
Marlette depot is now a favorite among train enthusiasts and photographers. It
currently is open as an historical museum.
