Erie & Kalamazoo Rail Road (1986)
Posted by: 
S5280ft
N 41° 50.184 W 083° 52.300
17T E 261555 N 4635599
This is the 1986 marker located on the east side of Main Street, just north of Worth Street. Parking is available. The 2001 marker is about 200 feet further down the tracks to the east.
Waymark Code: WM16Q1
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 02/03/2007
Views: 52
The first railroad operated west of the Alleghenies, the Erie and Kalamazoo, was chartered on April 22, 1833, to connect Port Lawrence (later named Toledo) with the Kalamazoo River via Adrian. A horse-drawn car made the first trip from Toledo to Adrian on November 2, 1836, running on strap iron strips spiked to oak rails. From 1852 to 1857 the line, then a part of the Michigan Southern Railroad, was a link in the only unbroken rail route from the East Coast to Chicago. As a part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, the New York Central, the Penn Central and the Conrail systems, "The Old Road," as it continued to be known, carried passengers until November 1956. The trackage in the Blissfield area later became the property of the state of Michigan.
(SIDE TWO) In addition to being the first railroad built west of the Allegheny Mountains, the Erie and Kalamazoo was in 1837 the first line west of the Alleghenies to operate a steam locomotive. Built in Philadelphia, the locomotive, the "Adrian No. 1," was brought west via the Erie Canal and Lake Erie. When the locomotive ran out of wood or water, passengers had to scour the countryside for them. A simple round trip between Toledo and Adrian took one day. The Erie and Kalamazoo was also the first western line to operate as an interstate railroad, to carry U.S. mail and to build a branch line. As a separate corporation, the Erie and Kalamazoo existed as a leased railroad, paying regular dividends to its shareholders, for more than 125 years.
Historical Date: 04/12/1833
Parking nearby?: yes
D/T ratings: 
website: [Web Link]
Registered Site #: Local Site #1146
Historical Name: Not listed
Description: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:Take a photo of your GPS at the marker. We'd prefer a photo of you with your GPS, but we realize that sometimes that's just not possible or preferable.
Also include a bit about your visit to the marker.
NEW: Instructions for logging Missing Marker Visits.
If the Marker is missing, but still listed here, you must provide a photo of you at the actual item historically honored. (This should be the waymark's "default" image). Indicate in your log that you took your photo at the Historical Location instead of the marker, because the marker was missing. Please also still include a bit about your visit to the site.