Michigan Central’s last train left 36 years ago — here’s a look inside after extensive renovations
Public tours of Michigan Central Station started on Friday. Relics, images, and other materials showcasing the station’s past can be found inside.
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Two important dates in Michigan Central’s history recently passed – the day the train depot was formerly dedicated and 1914 and the day the final train departed in 1988.
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Michigan Central was vacant from 1988 to 2018, when Ford Motor Co. bought the building and renovated it.
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The building is now open after six years of extensive renovations.
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Two important dates in Michigan Central’s history recently passed – the day the train depot was formerly dedicated and 1914 and the day the final train departed in 1988.
-
Michigan Central was vacant from 1988 to 2018, when Ford Motor Co. bought the building and renovated it.
-
The building is now open after six years of extensive renovations.
DETROIT (FOX 2):After a large renovation project to save the historic former rail station, it is teeming with more than just construction workers for the first time in decades.
The day the final train departed and the day the building was originally dedicated are two significant events in its history that have just past.
Michigan Central formerly dedicated
Prior to its dedication on January 4, 1914, Michigan Central Station had been operational for a few weeks.
Michigan Central was originally scheduled to begin in January 1914, but the date had to be moved up due to a fire at the existing train station. Saginaw Bay was the destination of the first train to leave the station, while Chicago was the destination of the first train to arrive.
Last train leaves Michigan Central
January 5, 1988 was the last train to leave for Chicago.
After years of hardship, the once-bustling rail depot was finally closed.
The structure was abandoned for the next thirty years after the last train departed Michigan Central in 1988, until Ford bought the former depot. Take a look at these Michigan Central before and after photos:
Train travel decline
After Amtrak took over the station, the main waiting area reopened after closing in April 1967.
In 1971, Amtrak purchased Michigan Central and invested over $1 million in upgrades. This involved incorporating a bus terminus into the structure. In 1975, the main waiting area reopened.
After that section reopened, the station would stay operational for over ten years, but the improvements were insufficient to sustain the station.
The building rapidly deteriorated after the last train departed, and it came to represent Detroit’s financial difficulties and downfall.
Until Ford Motor Company bought the building in the summer of 2018 and pledged to renovate it, it would stand empty with an uncertain future.
Before that, Michigan Central was a thriving hub for train traffic into and out of the city, but it was abandoned for 30 years and came to represent Detroit’s decline. As the grand reopening draws closer, here is a look back at significant events in the depot’s history:
What’s Michigan Central like now
As soon as it was announced that Michigan Central had a new owner, the building’s renovations began. The public was finally able to witness the fruits of that labor in June when Michigan Central opened with a concert.
While Ford personnel have begun relocating to the upper levels, the main floor is accessible to the general public.
Yellow Light Coffee & Donuts, Neighbor X Folk, a store selling Detroit and Michigan goods, and a gift shop with items with train station themes are currently located in Michigan Central.
Innumerable hours were spent by crews trying to recreate what could not be repaired and restore what could.
Old photographs and sketches were used to design some of the lights, and 3D-printed pediments traveled all the way to Maine to replicate them precisely.
The marble floors of the great waiting area have been restored. The marble on the ground where the benches used to be has been worn away by the feet of people waiting for their trains.
Look up while you’re in the waiting room. More than eight miles of grout support the mixture of old and repaired tiles on the ceiling.
The magnificent Michigan Central waiting room (FOX 2/Amber Ainsworth)
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