Capac's Early Railroad Depots
N 43° 01.009 W 082° 55.368
17T E 343316 N 4764476
Appears to be historical society and Capac townhall. They appear to close a fence at certain times (no hours posted).
Waymark Code: WMXZ7F
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 03/20/2018
Views: 5
In 1870 the Port Huron and Lake Michigan Railroad Company, later the Grand Truck Railroad, opened a rail line and depot in Capac. Judge Dewitt C. Walker, Capac's founder later recalled that the "shrill noise of the locomotive whistle that first rang out upon the frozen air and re-echoed through the trees that surrounded the village...heralded the advent of prosperity for this place." Such local goods as timber, barrel staves and grain were shipped on the railroad, helping spur the village's growth. The first depot, built north of the tracks, burned down in 1880, and a second, brick depot was built south of the tracks. It was declared "unsafe" and replaced by a third depot north of the tracks in the 1890s.
After Capac's third railroad depot was destroyed by fire on January 9, 1914, the Grand Trunk Railroad Company constructed this station. Located north of the tracks, just south of Railroad Street, it opened on October 17, 1914. Of board and batten construction, it featured a telegraph office that brought the latest news to the village. The depot closed on October 8, 1973. The Capac Community Historical Society purchased it in 1987 for one dollar on the condition it relocate the building. In 1988 the society moved the depot in two parts to this site, about three-fourths of a mile northeast of its original location and rehabilitated the station reuse as a museum. The depot reopened as the Capac Community Historical Museum in 1994.
Parking nearby?: yes
Registered Site #: L2292
Historical Date: Not listed
Historical Name: Not listed
Description: Not listed
D/T ratings: Not listed
website: Not listed
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