The Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Railroad (DM&T) was a shortline

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

which operated in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

s of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Opened in 1856, its main line ran from

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, to

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

. The railroad leased itself to the

Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833, and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily alon ...

(MS&NI) in 1856. A 1914 merger which created the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

led to the DM&T's consolidation into the new road, ending its existence.

Founding and charter

On March 3, 1851, the state of Ohio granted a charter to the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad (MS&NI), allowing it to build a rail line, in part, from Toledo, Ohio, to the Ohio-Michigan border. The Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Railroad was incorporated in the state of Michigan on April 26, 1855, with headquarters in Detroit. The charter allowed for a line originating in Detroit, Michigan, passing roughly along the shoreline of

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...

to the small town of

Monroe Monroe or Monroes may refer to: People and fictional characters * Monroe (surname) * Monroe (given name) * James Monroe, 5th President of the United States * Marilyn Monroe, actress and model Places United States * Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorp ...

on the Ohio-Michigan border. The DM&T obtained from the MS&NI the right to continue the line from the Michigan border to Toledo. By the end of June 1856, the DM&T had constructed of track from Detroit south to the Michigan state line. On July 1, 1856, the DM&T leased itself in perpetuity to the MS&NI. The terms of the lease required the MS&NI to finish the line from the Michigan border into Toledo, and to assume payment on all outstanding bonds and other debt of the DM&T. Over the next five months, the MS&NI completed the final of track, with the last rail laid on December 25, 1856. The first train ran over the line the same day. The road was

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

for its entire length. On February 11, 1869, the MS&NI and the Lake Shore Railway merged to form the

Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833, and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinoi ...

(LS&MS). The

New York Central and Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

acquired a controlling majority of the LS&MS in 1877. On April 29, 1914, the asset restructuring and refinancing of the New York Central led to the abolishment of all subsidiary corporations and their consolidation into the new

. The DM&T merged into the New York Central effective January 1, 1915.

Current tracks

The DM&T tracks still exist. They constitute the southbound track of the Detroit Line of the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{commonscat, Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Railroad Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway lines New York Central Railroad lines Rail infrastructure in Ohio Rail infrastructure in Michigan Railway lines opened in 1856 Defunct Michigan railroads Defunct Ohio railroads