By By JOHN EBY / Niles Daily Star
DOWAGIAC – Vestiges of Niles' rich railroad history remain. Trains earned the Four Flags City its other nickname, the "Garden City," for the flowers around the depot featured in three Hollywood films.
The Second Street tunnel, opened for $14,000 on Feb. 8, 1892, is still there.
Taxis and livery wagons ferried passengers and freight through the sandstone archway when there were two train stations 2,800 feet apart.
"How many communities had that?" Niles historian Donna Turtle Ochenryder asked Wednesday night at The Museum on Southwestern Michigan College's spring lecture series, which continues April 4 with a Civil War program and concludes May 2 on war correspondent Webb Miller.
"They'd come down Front. High Street is Wayne Street now. Through the tunnel on Second Street, they'd go over to Dey Street, which runs parallel to the tracks, to get up to the Michigan Central depot. They'd commute back and forth between the two," Ochenryder explained.
She said the City of Niles paid $3,400 cash for the archway and sold $8,000 in bonds to finance the rest.
"I have vivid memories of the Fifth Street viaduct," Ochenryder said. "The decking was 2x4s bolted into place, but they 'jumped' as vehicles went across. As a kid you're standing up there, looking down, and all of a sudden a train (belching) steam and smoke (travels beneath) and a car or truck goes across that bridge, it was something to experience."
Ochenryder shared photographs of the Fifth Street viaduct, constructed for $20,000 in 1891 and removed in June 1977.
As for why Niles had such an ornate, well-landscaped depot, surrounded by greenhouses and fish ponds, Ochenryder attributed it to coinciding with the 1893 Columbian Exposition.
"It had every kind of plant you can think of," she said. "A little German man by the name of John Gipner had a crew of 12 people who worked for him operating the greenhouses and maintaining the depot grounds. Michigan Central wanted it to be gorgeous because of the (world's fair) held in Chicago. This was the last stop, if you will, before the train got into Chicago. Mr. Gipner started providing a free flower to every lady passenger on the train. He provided fresh flowers for all the trains. There's a lot less greenery around it today. Mr. Gipner himself maintained that flower bed (spelling out Niles). That was his pride and joy."
Movies featuring the Niles depot include "Continental Divide" with John Belushi in 1980, "Midnight Run" with Robert DeNiro in 1987 and "Only the Lonely" with Maureen O'Hara and John Candy in 1990.
In the 1830s, Michigan approved building three railroads – Northern Michigan, Michigan Central and Michigan Southern.
Citizens questioned the state's involvement in such an endeavor, so Michigan divested. Michigan Central was sold off to a group of Boston financiers.
As a result, Michigan Central arrived in Niles on Oct. 1, 1848. At first trains could go no farther west than Niles because there was no bridge across the St. Joseph River. Working through the winter, the span was constructed by 1849, allowing the first westbound train to head for New Buffalo on April 23, 1849.
Second to arrive was the Airline, connecting South Bend, Ind., to Jackson and traveling through Niles, Barron Lake, Cassopolis and Three Rivers.
"The idea was, competition to Michigan Central, it would have to reduce fares for travelers and freight," Ochenryder said. But that notion was thwarted, despite J.W. French of the paper mill, heading up $100,000 worth of investors, because once built, it was leased to Michigan Central.
In 1882, a third railroad arrived. The Big Four came up from Wabash, Ind., to Elkhart, South Bend, Niles and up to Benton Harbor. Local officials wanted the line, but were reluctant to make a financial commitment.
So the Big Four bought "a worthless piece of property" at the foot of Bond Street and sold it to the city for $50,000, she said.
The Big Four depot was at 536 N. Front St. Its tracks followed the river and ran through where the skatepark is today. At the corner of Second and Sycamore streets was the Galt House, a hotel which burned.
"During the celebration, here comes a big steam engine with cars on it, tootin' its horn. It has bunting on it and the city band's there to play. They also had a cannon," she said. "They got ready to do the second shot, but somebody forgot to swab out the barrel. As a result, there was a hot wad. When the second load of gunpowder hit it, that exploded. The ramrod shattered E.W. Strong's left arm and left him blind in one eye."
Strong is the grandfather of David Thornton, the Marcellus man belatedly awarded his World War II Bronze Medal by U.S. Rep. Fred Upton.
The Big Four invested in property for Strong, where he operated a fishing tackle and tobacco store by its tracks at the foot of the Main Street bridge. Strong was also given a lifetime job as flagman. An 1891 Frank Nix photo shows a grist mall across the street from the new YMCA. Photographs of early Niles are part of a Central Michigan University library collection, she said.
A view looking from the corner of Third and Main streets makes it appear the bridge was much higher to accommodate steamboats from St. Joseph. "The terrain is still hilly today, but look at how hilly it was then," she said. Barbara Cook wondered whether given the number of tunnels on the south side whether Main might have been elevated to counteract the low, swampy area.
Ochenryder said when trains finally reached New Buffalo, that Lake Michigan shoreline community built a dock so railroad cars could unload by Chicago ferry boats.
Ochenryder "had always been led to believe that only two bridges had been built across the St. Joe River" – one in 1849, going west to New Buffalo, and the iron one in 1902. "But if you read Harry Brelsford or Ralph and Mary Ballard, they will tell you that in 1878 or thereabouts, another bridge had to be built because the weights of the trains and the freight were getting too much for the wooden bridge. I can't find a picture of it."
Ochenryder, who made contemporary photographs last summer 112 feet off the ground in the Niles Fire Department rescue bucket, also showed the "triple track, which supposedly was the only one in the world. The Big Four was at the lower level, the Michigan Southern, which ran on Ninth Street in Niles, was in the middle and the Interurban" traveled the trestle at top.
Carl Biek of Dowagiac disputes that, however. "My records show Michigan Central" occupied the middle track. She said it might have been absorbed by Michigan Central and New York Central, but Biek maintained, "Michigan Southern never came into Niles."
The Interurban, 313 N. 2nd St., came in 1902 and lasted until 1934. It left the triple track, crossed 11th Street, "came down in behind Martin's and over to Fifth Street. From Fifth Street, it went all the way to Main, down Main, turned on Second Street and its depot was where LaSalle Federal Savings and Loan is currently. Russom Transfer was in there later, after the Interurban depot."
Biek knows of two other Interurban depots – one where Montgomery Ward was located and another on a corner of Main.
Ochenryder said there was also a bus stop-like, open-air passenger pick-up point on Ninth Street at Main, where the post office is located and there used to be a school.
On Dec. 28, 1917, during World War I, the federal government nationalized railroads, which it operated into the 1920s. The railroad was to be moved from Michigan City, Ind., to Niles, causing hard feelings between Michigan and Indiana.
"It resulted from the hog law," she explained. "It stated that both men and animals had to be rested, watered and fed every 16 hours. To do that, they had to relocate the switching terminal from Michigan City" closer to Jackson. "That's how it ended up in Niles. We were 92 miles from Chicago. They needed 1,100 acres for the classification station. They located 1,100 acres a portion in Berrien County, but the bulk of it was in Cass County. It was owned by William Matthew," who resisted selling.
But the militia marched back and forth in front of his property until he was "convinced" to sell to the railroad for $150,000.
To create housing for 600 workers moved to Niles, the Dodge brothers agreed to help if their close friend Dr. Bonine agreed to return as mayor to look after the $500,000 lent to Reliable Home Building and Loan Association.
Homes were built in Eastlake Terrace, an 18-block neighborhood between 13th and 18th streets that includes Merrifield, Sheffield, Sheridan, Clarendon and Eastlake Court.
Niles schools were experiencing half-day classes because of overcrowding. A millage opened a new central elementary and high school in 1923.
The restored roundhouse on Terminal Road could accommodate 30 engines. The hotel remains. There are various businesses using the complex today. Michigan Central built Terminal Road. Michigan Central regarded Hunter Ice from Barron Lake as the most "pristine." The railroad relied on it in dining cars.
She also showed an image of the January 1957 derailment on Lake Street, near 13th.