Pere Marquette Railroad: St. Joseph Station
N 42° 06.548 W 086° 29.061
16T E 542631 N 4662021
The depot in St. Joseph was built by the Pere Marquette Railroad in 1913. The large covered platform was likely built to handle heavy summer traffic to lake-side resorts in St. Joseph. The depot is still used as a passenger stop on Amtrak.
Waymark Code: WM36H1
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 02/18/2008
Views: 22
From the Michigan Passenger Stations web
site:
"The depot in St. Joseph was built by the Pere Marquette Railroad
in 1913. The large covered platform was likely built to handle
heavy summer traffic to lake-side resorts in St. Joseph. The depot
is still used as a passenger stop on Amtrak's Grand Rapids-Chicago
Pere Marquette. The present waiting room occupies only a small
corner of the station, now owned by the city. Most of the building
was remodeled to serve as a resturant. It was Roxy's Depot Diner
for several years. In 2002, Roxy's went bankrupt and the business
changed hands. It was open briefly, as the Sunset Grill, but as of
the Fall of 2003, it too was closed.
The tracks themselves go back to 1869, when the Chicago and
Michigan Lakeshore Railroad completed a line from New Buffalo to
St. Joseph. The Panic of 1873 sent the railroad into bankruptcy. It
was reorganized as the Chicago and West Michigan Railway. During
the 1880's the railroad grew and prospered, eventually stretching
from LaCrosse, IN to Traverse City, MI. Around 1900, the Chicago
and West Michigan became part of of the Pere Marquette system. St.
Joseph was then on the PM's main line running from Detroit to
Chicago. PM made many improvements to build a heavy duty main line,
including building a swing bridge in 1904 over the St. Joseph
river, just north of the depot. It is still in use."
The station now also houses the Silver Beach Pizza Parlor.