![]() |
![]()
| Site
Contents:
|
|
Welcome to the official web site of the Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.!The Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc. (PMHS) was founded in 1995 as a means of collecting and disseminating information regarding the Pere Marquette Railroad. Our membership is made up of historians, former employees, modelers, and railfans. If you are interested in the PM, we encourage you to join. The Pere Marquette Railroad Company was formed in 1900 by the merger of numerous Michigan railroads, the most prominent of them being the Flint and Pere Marquette, the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western, and the Chicago and West Michigan. During its existence, it came under the control of several other railroads at one time or another, including the Baltimore and Ohio and the Erie. In the 1920s, it came under the control of Oris and Mantis Van Sweringen, two financiers from Cleveland who also controlled the Nickel Plate, the Erie, and the Chesapeake and Ohio. Over the years, the C&O gained more and more control over the PM, until on June 6, 1947 the PM was formally merged into the Chesapeake and Ohio. The Pere Marquette operated over trackage stretching from Buffalo, New York to Chicago, and from Bay View (Petoskey) Michigan to Toledo, Ohio, with trackage in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Ontario. In addition to its strictly rail operations, the PM also operated railway car ferries on the Detroit and St. Clair rivers, and a fleet of car ferries from Ludington across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee, Kewaunee and Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Nearly all of the trackage CSX operates in Michigan today is former PM trackage. Please Note: The PMHS is unable to provide
information regarding specific PM employees,
as we do not possess any of the PM's employment records. News
2008 PMHS Members' Get-Together Set for July 26 in Owosso - After some ten years of gathering in Grand Rapids for a day of presentations on PM history, we've decided to try something a little different this year. Mark your calendars for Saturday, July 26, when we will gather in Owosso, on the grounds of the Steam Railroading Institute, home of Pere Marquette 1225. At 9:00 a.m. we will depart on an excursion behind 1225 to Alma, arriving at 11:30. There will be a 2-1/2-hour layover there, plenty of time for photos and lunch. We will re-board at 2:00 for our return to Owosso, stopping along the way for a photo run-by. Following our return to Owosso at 5:00, SRI will have their PM rolling stock prominently displayed and (we hope) give rides on the former New Buffalo turntable. There may even be a surprise or two! There will also be plenty of time to socialize. Fare for the excursion will be $75.00 each. There will also be 12 seats available on PM caboose A909 for $125.00 each. If those sell out, and if there is sufficient interest, an Ann Arbor caboose could be added, as well. To make your reservation, call the Steam Railroading Institute at 989-725-9464 and mention that you're with the Pere Marquette Historical Society group. If you need overnight accommodations, hotel information for the immediate area is available from the Shiawassee Convention & Visitors Bureau (http://www.shiawassee.org). You can also book a room in the Lansing or Flint areas, about 25 miles away. SRI will be running another trip to Alma on Sunday, the 27th for your riding or chasing pleasure, or take in the Huckleberry Railroad in Flint, which runs on ex-F&PM right of way.
The trackage in question was part of the PM's "Turkey Trail" line which connected Grand Rapids and Saginaw by way of Elmdale, Lowell, Greenville, Edmore, Alma and St. Louis. The Mid-Michigan Railroad had operated the remaining Greenville-Elmdale segment since 1987, when it served appliance and auto parts manufacturers in Greenville. Frigidaire's March, 2006 closing of its manufacturing plant in Greenville eliminated the last substantial source of traffic on the line. The filing indicates that the MMRR has executed a Memorandum of Understanding
with the West Michigan Trails and Greenways Coalition for the sale of
the right-of-way. Upon approval of the application, it intends to remove
all rails and other track materials on the line, leaving bridges in place.
Once that is completed, it will sell the right-of-way to the Trails and
Greenways Coalition for development as a recreational trail.
Drawings of both cars and ordering details are found on our special-run HO freight cars page. Additional details on the prototype cars on which these kits are based are found in the May, 2005 issue of PM Tracks.
|
![]()
Pere
Marquette Historical Society members receive six issues of PM
Tracks, the bimonthly PMHS newsletter, and two issues of Pere
Marquette Rails, the PMHS magazine, each year. Members also receive
notices of special projects, such as our
custom-run PM freight cars.
We hold an annual "get-together" for members and their immediate families each year at a town along the former-PM right-of-way. The 2007 PMHS Members' Get-Together was held on Saturday, August 4 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel (formerly the Radisson) at M-37 and 28th Street SE, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Plans for the 2008 Get-Together are being developed.
To join the Pere Marquette Historical Society, send a check or money order for $30.00 (Canadian residents $35.00 US) payable to the "Pere Marquette Historical Society" to:
| Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc. Membership Officer P.O. Box 422 Grand Haven, MI 49417-0422 |
A copy of our membership application form is available on this Web site.
The Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization incorporated in the State of Michigan and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service.
![]()
This site would not be possible without the gracious assistance of fellow PMHS members and numerous others who have contributed information and photographs for use on this site, most notably:
|
|
|
And of course, no work on the PM would be complete without acknowledging the fine work of PMHS President Art Million, who is not only the pioneer PM historian, but has written most of the books and articles published about the PM over the past several decades. Art has also provided valuable background information (and error-correction!) for this site.
![]()
Use of this Web site and the materials contained within it is subject to
specific
terms and conditions.
![]()
| Do you have questions or comments
regarding this Web site? E-mail to All original contents of this Web site are Copyright © 2007, John F. ("Fritz") Milhaupt, on behalf of the Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc., All Rights Reserved. |