The DETROIT, TOLEDO & MILWAUKEE RAILROAD

We all know about the two prominent railroads that cross through Albion: The Michigan Central, and the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. Did you know however that there once was another railroad that passed through a tiny corner of Section 31 in Albion Township near Homer?

It was the Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee Railroad. This was originally constructed in 1883 and ran from Dundee to Allegan. Originally it was known as the Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw Railroad. The line went through numerous small towns as it zig-zagged across southern Michigan. In our region, it went from Moscow to Hanover to Pulaksi, to Homer, then up to Eckford and Marshall, then to Ceresco. It then went to Battle Creek and northwards. If you've ever noticed the old railroad bed on the west side of Beadle Lake Road north of I-94 near Battle Creek, that's the remains of this line. The railroad just crossed too many others and competition was too great for it to make a profit. In its final years it was taken over by the New York Central Railroad.

During the Great Depression, the Interstate Commerce Commission authorized the abandonment of 89 miles of the line between Battle Creek and Dundee in June, 1932. The tracks were torn up thereafter, and the Eckford post office was closed in 1934. Recently the Homer Historical Society was able to acquire the Grover (southeast of Homer) station freight building, which has been placed at its Blair farm. From our Historical Notebook we present a photo of that freight building, awaiting restoration by the industrious Homer historians.

	Frank Passic — Albion Historian An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page. Historical Notebook \| From the Archives \| Subject List \| 100 Years Ago \| Alphabetical Index \| Frank Passic Home Page \| Albion History Books \| Contact Frank
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	Robin James — Indices Unlimited Robin James is the editor of the Albion Historical Notebook and has kept Frank Passic's thousands of articles organized and searchable for decades. A trained librarian and archivist, Robin specializes in back-of-book and online indexing, multimedia collection management, and corporate information distribution. He also enjoys strange music and is a contributing editor for Igloo electronic music magazine. For more about his indexing services, visit Indices Unlimited.
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