Welcome to the official web site of the Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.!

 
PM Wyoming Back Shop, circa 1947

News

PM Tracks Issue #119 Mailed - Issue #119 of PM Tracks was mailed to members in early June. Issue 120 is being laid out and we anticipate mailing it in late summer.  Updated June 14, 2020

PMHS Conferences Resume in 2020 - On Saturday, September 19, we will resume holding annual members' conferences. This year, we will meet at the Comstock Inn in Owosso, Michigan for a program of presentations on the PM, a conversation with the Board of Directors, and a visit to the Steam Railroading Institute. Details are included in Issue 118 of PM Tracks, mailed in the third week of January.

Due to the current health crisis, the PMHS Board of Directors will make a determination in August or September as to whether the Conference will be postponed.  Updated June 30, 2020

Pere Marquette HO Modelers' Guide Updated - An updated copy of the Pere Marquette HO Modelers' Reference Guide has been posted to the Model Railroading Resources page on this site. Posted Nov. 29, 2019

The PMHS Has A New Mailing Address - Effective immediately, the official mailing address for the PMHS is changed to Post Office Box 233, Perry, Michigan 48872-0233. All correspondence, including dues payments and other inquiries should be directed to this address. Posted Sep. 19, 2019

A New Board of Directors Elected at August Meeting - At the August 10, 2019 Special Membership Meeting called by President Bob VandeVusse, we elected a new Board of Directors. By acclamation, the members present elected new President T.J. Gaffney, Vice President Hugh J. Hales II, and Secretary/Treasurer Tim Parker. Our new Board has already met and has begun conducting the Society's business. Brief introductions to the new Board members will appear in Issue #118 of PM Tracks. Posted Aug. 11, 2019

The PMHS

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.

• Tom Amrine
• Dennis Bean-Larson
• Willard Benedict
• Ben Boshoven
• Gary Boyer
• J.C. Carlson
• Art Chavez
• Bob DeClerg

• William Dewey
• T.J. Gaffney
• Eddie Gross
• Hugh J. Hales II
• Max S. Hanley
• E.L. Huddleston
• Roger Kirkpatrick
• Chuck Neal

• Paul Quintus
• Bob Sanford
• Leon Schaddelee
• Phil Shuster
• Leon Schaddelee
• Robert Vande Vusse
• Cliff Vander Yacht
• Dave Zelisse