On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
twbrandt
On August 17, 2024 I visited the newly renovated Michigan Central Station in Detroit. The station, which opened in January, 1914, was designed by the same architectural firms that designed Grand Central Station in New York City. It cost around $15 million, which was real money back then. It has two distinct parts, the train depot and an 18-story office tower.
At its busiest in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, the station saw more 200 trains and 4,000 passengers each day. After World War II, as more and more people traveled by car, train travel across the country declined and by the 1960s most of the station was closed. Amtrak took the station over in 1971 and operated a couple of trains at it, but by 1988 Amtrak closed the station completely and moved its service elsewhere in the city.
In 1996, malignant billionaire Manuel Maroun acquired it with various plans for intermodal freight, but by 2004 essentially abandoned the station and it fell into ruin. It stood for years as a potent symbol of Detroit’s decline, and was a favorite subject of ruin porn photographers.
In 2018, the Ford Motor Company, under the leadership of Bill Ford, Jr, Henry Ford’s great-grandson and current chair of Ford Motor, purchased the station and several properties around it for redevelopment. After 6 years and around $740 million, the station was restored to its original grandeur and reopened to the public in June of 2024.
Current plans call for retail and food service in the former train depot, offices in the tower, and a hotel on the top three floors of the tower. Ford has left open the possibility of train service being restored at the station. Amtrak apparently is talking with VIA Rail, Canada’s passenger rail service, about restoring a rail link between Chicago and Toronto, with the Detroit stop at the station. Whether that happens is anyone’s guess, but it would be fantastic if it does.
This is looking at the front of the building, with the depot in front and the office tower behind it.
A photo in front of the building showing it before restoration was started.
One of the windows in the entrance hall.
Entrance hallway
Photo of the entrance hallway before restoration.
They did not mess around when it came to lighting.
Giant clock over the ticketing area.
Hallway leading to the platforms.
They had an exhibit of posters that used to be displayed in the station back in it heyday.
People in line for the tour.
War for Ukraine Day 960: President Zelenskyy & Larry the Cat
Dangerman
Lovely.
i grew up in San Bernardino. Train town. Anyway, Maternal Grandfather was Santa Fe. All things connected to trsins are fine by me (see Banff Springs Hotel and Lake Louise Hotel; OK, I’ll let you in on a little secret, which is Moraine Lake is prettier than Lake Louise). Revelstoke has a lovely golf course. Just in case I need to evacuate in a few weeks.
ANYWAY, that wasn’t where any of this is going. I might have a chance to get inside the Arrowhead Springs Hotel in San Bernardino. I’ll take pics and share. This is like Christmas and Birthday and another Christmas all wrapped in one for me.
Fingers crossed.
eclare
Very nicely done!
Doug
At its busiest in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, the station saw more 200 trains and 4,000 passengers each day.
That would mean only 20 passengers per train. I think twbrandt must have forgotten at least one zero, maybe two, on the passenger figure. (By way of comparison, in 2023 Berlin’s main station claimed 330,000 visitors per day.)
waspuppet
Beautiful! I took a train from Detroit to Chicago last year and sat in a waiting room that was twice the size of my living room at most and felt like a police station. I thought “This can’t possibly be the real thing.” Good to see it’s not!
waspuppet
@waspuppet: OK it’s early morning here, so I’m rereading everything and realizing that this isn’t necessarily going to be the train station again. That would be sad; one of the things I really liked about the Midwestern cities is that they stick with the antiquated idea that the most important buildings should be the nicest.
Don K
Detroit-area resident here, thrilled by the restoration of MCS. I would love to see trains stop at the station again, but there are a few obstacles. First, the tunnel under the Detroit River is owned by CPKC while trains between Windsor and Toronto run on CN tracks, and the connection between the two joins the CN downstream of the present Windsor station, meaning either a new connector would need to be built through Windsor or a new station would be needed. Second, at present trains from Chicago turn north to stop in the northern suburbs before terminating in Pontiac, which is a great example of bringing trains to the people rather than expecting people to come to the trains. Having trains go from MCS to the northern suburbs would require a long back-up move that would add probably 30-45 minutes to the CHI-PNT timing, which would negate efforts to improve speeds on the Michigan corridor, or would require a connector to be built through Detroit to turn the Pontiac trains to the north. Otherwise, there would be two stations for the Chicago trains, which would be confusing. Just saying there are tradeoffs in bringing trains back to MCS; it’s not as easy as just decreeing that there will be trains to Toronto that will stop there.
Anyway, it’s good to have MCS back from the dead. It’s fortunate that there was no money available to demolish Detroit’s early 20th-century gems, and there is money now for their restoration.
MazeDancer
Beautiful photos
Pharniel
It killed me that I couldn’t get child care to make it down there for the free tours & unveilings, but I do love that the Ford brand seems to be “restoring Art Deco Detroit”, and I do enjoy the trend of classic buildings being restarted.
Now to find out how wyld Devil’s Night is down in Corktown this year.
Kosh III
We don’t build beautiful and functional buildings like that now. Instead we get towers of glass and ugly.
frosty
@Dangerman:
We were in the Canadian Rockies this summer and I second your comments on the hotels near Banff. I’d add the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton – it was spectacular. The railroad angle is that Canadian Pacific built these to generate ridership. Some of the hotels and lodges in US National Parks were built by the railroads for the same reason.
I second your recommendations for Moraine Lake. Another benefit is that it’s less crowded – people want serene pictures of Lake Louise without anyone in them but you have to wait awhile until you’re “at the head of the line.” See them both!
West of the Cascades
@Kosh III: [shakes fist] Damn you, Mies van der Rohe!
WaterGirl
Much of the grandeur of the old banks and train stations has been lost, but many of the grand places still remain.
Here’s what frosty came up with to describe what we have been thinking about a possible train station series.
The pictures of the Michigan Central Train Station in Detroit show how beautiful these practical, daily-use buildings used to be, ad could be; much different from the airports we’re used to.
Surely many of us on BJ are located close to an old classic train station, or at least go through one on our travels. What would you say to having a rolling train station OTR series, done as a collective, with people submitting old train station photos as they can?
frosty says he commuted through Union Station in DC for 14 years; occasionally during that time he was going out of Penn Station in Baltimore. He thinks he could do those two postspretty easily. Point of Rocks on the B&O in Frederick County, MD is a classic smaller station. Then there’s Grand Central in NYC, 30th Street in Philly that are close to him. Closer to a lot of other readers, though, too.
Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and (I think) St Louis renovated their stations. we’d love to see pictures from local jackals who could check them out.
What say you?
Since we’re posting out thoughts after a bunch of people may have already read the thread, I think we’ll pose the question again on Monday so we can get a feel for whether there’s interest.
Kosh III
I’m 70 miles from Nashville which has an old grand train station which declined and then was restored as an elegant hotel.
As for travel on a train, the only time I’ve ever done it was taking Amtrak from San Diego to Anaheim to visit Disneyland. And a couple of tourist scenic train trips here in Tennessee.
WaterGirl
What a gorgeous window!!!
dr. luba
Billionaire businessman Matty Maroun (1927 – 2020) was a symbol of so much of what was wrong with Detroit. Among other things, he bought MCT and let it sit and deteriorate from 1995 until 2018.
His family also owns the Ambassador bridge, the only privately owned international bridge. He used his “influence” (read money) to prevent any other bridges being built between Detroit and Canada; this was fueled by the prospect of lost profits from duty-free gasoline sales at the bridge. Canada finally had enough of truck traffic having to go through downtown Windsor, and is building the Gordie Howe bridge downriver, so that truck traffic goes from one highway to another, bypassing both downtowns.
twbrandt
@Don K: VIA Rail is at least studying the idea of restoring Toronto to Chicago service, with a stop at MCS.
jonas
@Dangerman: Ooh! Fellow former IE resident here! When I was a kid, my parents knew someone who worked for the Campus Crusade ministry, whose headquarters was the old Arrowhead Springs hotel back then, and he would occasionally let us come up and swim in their famous pool on blistering summer afternoons. That was a long time ago and I have no idea what’s become of that landmark since. It was a pretty impressive resort, at least to six year-old me.
jonas
I love old train stations. There’s been a similar effort for years to restore the old Buffalo, NY Central Terminal which was also a grand landmark from the golden age of rail. After the legacy train companies either folded or abandoned passenger service, the new Amtrak service moved to a small, sad suburban depot in Depew, which is still the main stop for Buffalo on the Maple Leaf and Lake Shore Limited runs.
dr. luba
Trump is an asshole, part 1,000,673:
Former President Donald Trump mentioned the city of Detroit in a negative light during his speech Thursday evening to the Detroit Economic Club at MotorCity Casino Soundboard.
“The whole country is going to be like, you want to know the truth? It’ll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president. You’re going to have a mess on your hands,” Trump said.
His comments come at a time when longtime residents and many national commentators consider Detroit to be on an upswing.
PJ
It is kind of criminal the way this country let some of its most beautiful public buildings fall into decay or be demolished.
Don K
@WaterGirl: It sounds like a great idea! I know in the Detroit area the ex-MC station in Ann Arbor (still an Amtrak station) and the ex-Grand Trunk Western station in Birmingham have been repurposed as upscale restaurants.
Chat Noir
Thanks for posting these! I worked in downtown Detroit for 10 years in the late 90s/early aughts. I was always sad going by the MCS knowing it was really something back in the day. I’m so glad it’s been restored to its original glory. Would love to visit it sometime when I’m back in southeast Michigan.
Don K
@twbrandt: I didn’t know that. I know that route is on the Amtrak wish list for future service. I’m just pointing out the complications that have to be worked through before restoring service to MCS. Let’s get Secretary Pete on the case!
Don K
@dr. luba: Matty Maroun was another fucking asshole
tom
Speaking of trains, last week I took the Acela Express from downtown Boston to NYC. It’s not as nice as many European trains, but it sure as hell beats flying. The new train hall at Penn station is pretty nice – first time I’ve been through it.
Madeleine
@Don K: actually the Ann Arbor Amtrak station is a small modern building near the exMC station. The old station is, as it has been for many years, a restaurant. It is, as a result, in good shape. And in its current incarnation it’s a very good restaurant. I had dinner there in June. It is the tradition among diners to clap when a train goes past.
The return of Mo Salad
Our local USL soccer club, Detroit City FC, has purchased the land nearby the station where the abandoned Detroit Southwest Hospital currently sits.
They will be building a new stadium there for the club and it is expected to open in 2027. There are also plans for a City Winery near there.
This will add to the revitalization of the Corktown neighborhood and help expand it to the Mexican Town neighborhood on the other side of M-10.
dr. luba
@Don K: Yes, he was. I must say I was quite pleased when the judge jailed him for contempt.
Sadly, he didn’t stay there very long…..
Don K
@Madeleine: Ah, okay, I stand corrected. I have eaten at the Ann Arbor station when my husband had an appointment at UM hospital. Haven’t eaten at the restaurant in the old Birmingham station because it’s kinda pricey. Eh, y’know, it’s Birmingham.
Don K
@dr. luba: One of those whose obituary I read with great pleasure.
Don K
@dr. luba: I’ve lived in SEMI since 1978, and honestly Detroit is looking better than ever in that time. Woodward between New Center and downtown looks good, and neighborhoods like Corktown are rebounding.