In 1870 The State Line Railroad Company was chartered in Ohio, this project was brought forward the City of Toledo as internal improvement project and built by the Pennsylvania Railroad system. The purpose of its incorporation was to build a steam railroad of about five miles from Elm Street, Toledo, Ohio, to a connection with the Detroit , Canada Southern and Toledo Company's tracks at Alexis, Ohio. This project was completed during the following year.
In 1871 The Toledo, Ann Arbor and Northern Railroad Company was incorporated in Michigan for the purpose of building and operating a railroad from Alexis, Ohio - the northern terminal of the State Line Railroad - to Ann Arbor, Michigan, a distance of about 40 miles. This project collapsed in the financial panic of 1873.
In 1876 James M. Ashley acquired the assets of the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Northern Railroad and organized the Toledo and Ann Arbor Railroad Company and completed it in 1877. The State Line property was purchased in the same year.
For the purpose of extending this road to connections at South Lyon and Pontiac, Michigan, The Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Eastern Railroad Company was organized in 1880 and was built to South Lyon and graded to Pontiac. At this time the railroad had changed its name to the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Grand Trunk. A interchange was made with Detroit, Lansing and Northern at South Lyon. The incomplete section, South Lyon to Pontiac, was sold to the Michigan Air Line Railway [Grand Trunk Railway Company] in 1881, which became its Michigan Air Line Division from Pontiac to Jackson, Michigan, through South Lyon.
About 1884 The Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Railroad Company was organized by a consolidation of the Toledo and Ann Arbor and The Toledo, Ann Arbor and Grand Trunk Companies, and its Northern Terminus designation as St. Louis in Gratiot County, Michigan. The line between Leland and South Lyon was abandoned in 1891 and the railroad charter of the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Grand Trunk from 1500 feet east of Leland to South Lyon was sold to the South Lyon and Northern Railway Company, minus rails.
Forty miles of the new line between Owosso and St. Louis was completed and opened in 1885, and the section between Leland and Owosso in the following year. In the Hamburg area running rights of the Michigan Air Line was used to made the connection with disconnected railroad pieces in this area. In 1896 a new line was built to the westward of Leland between Ann Arbor and Whitmore Lake, shortening the distance between these stations approximately three miles, also at this time new trackage was installed to bypass the Michigan Air Line trackage at Hamburg Thus changing the interchange point from Hamburg to Lakeland for the Michigan Air Line.
In 1885 A. Wright constructed the Lansing, Alma & Mt. Pleasant railroad from Alma to Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. This line parallel the line that the Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan was to built. In 1886 The Ann Arbor Company purchased the property Lansing, Alma & Tm. Pleasant and built a connecting line from St. Louis to Alma. That portion of the road from Ithaca to Alma via St. Louis was sold in 1896 to the Detroit, Lansing and Northern. At the same time the company purchased and made a part of its main line, the Ithaca branch of the Detroit, Lansing and Northern R.R.., extending from Alma to Ithaca [this a property exchange]. The Detroit, Lansing, and Northern took over operations at St. Louis and the Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan retained a short distance north of Ithaca, this connecting trackage was removed between Ithaica and St. Louis.
In 1885, the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Cadillac Railroad Company was organized to build a road from Mt. Pleasant, then the Northern Terminus, to Cadillac; the project was completed and the Corporation consolidated with the parent company in 1886. Part of this project was to relocate the branch line connection for the Pere Marquette R. R. going to Harrison, to avoid building an interlocking plant, this new connection was moved east to Clare..
In the following year the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Lake Michigan Company undertook the construction of a line from Cadillac to Frankfort, which was completed to Copemish in 1888, and the property sold to the Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan Company. In the mean time local interests had built a railroad, The Frankfort and South Eastern, from Frankfort to Thompsonville, affording the objective connection with boat service at Frankfort. The Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan then built a line from Copemish to Thompsonville and leased it to the Frankfort and South Eastern, and installing a interlock plant, since the Frankfort and South Eastern did not crossed the Chicago and Southern at this time. The Frankfort and South Eastern property was subsequently, in 1892, acquired by and incorporated with the Ann Arbor project.
About 1890 the company contracted the construction of two car ferry boats, designed to carry 24 30 foot freight cars on their own wheels. Car Ferry No. 1 was placed in commission in November, 1892, and Car Ferry No. 2 about a month later. Necessary docks for such operation were built at Frankfort and Kewaunee, Wisconsin, the eastern terminal of the Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western Railroad and placed in commission. This was the first car ferry movement, where large lake operation was contemplated, known to transportation.
The enterprise was complete but undeveloped when the panic of 1893 brought financial embarrassment and reorganization of the company.
On September 21st, 1895 the Ann Arbor Railroad Company was organized to take over the assets and property of the Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan Railway Company, which has since continuously operated the property. Previous to 1896 the company used the Pennsylvania Lines terminal in Toledo. In 1895 the Cherry Street property was purchased, the freight and passenger buildings erected and a line built from Ottawa River to Cherry Street and opened October 14, 1896. It has expanded its trans-lake service by developing ports for its ferry service at Menominee and Manistique, Michigan and Manitowoc and Kewaunee, Wisconsin, by which means it secures connection with all the companies operating railroads in Northern Michigan and Wisconsin.
See Volume 13 No. 3 and Volume 14 No. 1 of the Double A for a more detailed discussion.
Rewritten and updated 9/27/2012 by Henry F. Burger
