Jackson station is a historic

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

station in

Jackson, Michigan Jackson is a city in Jackson County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 31,309 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along Interstate 94 in Michigan, Interstate 94 and U.S. Route 127 in Michigan, U.S ...

, United States. It is served by three daily trains between

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

Pontiac Pontiac most often refers to: * Pontiac (Odawa leader) ( – 1769), Native American war chief *Pontiac (automobile), a former General Motors brand Pontiac may also refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apo ...

and a single daily

Amtrak Thruway Amtrak Thruway is a system of through-ticketed transportation services to connect passengers with areas not served by Amtrak trains. In most cases these are dedicated motorcoach routes, but can also be non-dedicated intercity bus services, transi ...

bus between

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

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 ...

, Jackson, and

East Lansing East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, although a small portion extends north into Clinton County, Michigan, Clinton County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

. The station was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2002.

History

What eventually became the

Michigan Central Railroad The Michigan Central Railroad (reporting mark MC) was originally chartered in 1832 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in th ...

was begun in 1837, and the track reached Jackson by 1841. By the 1870s, multiple other lines served the city including the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad, the

Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad The Fort Wayne and Jackson Railroad was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1879 to reorganize the Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad, which owned a railway line between Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Jackson, Michiga ...

, the

Grand River Railway The Grand River Railway was an interurban electric railway (known as a radial in Ontario) in what is now the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. History Background Preston and Berlin Railway Starting in ...

, and the Michigan Air Line Railroad. In 1872, the Michigan Central Railroad decided to construct a replacement for its earlier station built in 1841. The new station, named 'Jackson Union Station,' was used as a

Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

, serving all the other lines (namely, the

Cincinnati Northern Railroad (1894–1938) The Cincinnati Northern Railroad was a railroad that stretched from Franklin, Ohio (near Cincinnati, OH, Cincinnati), north to Jackson, Michigan, a distance of about . It was acquired by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway in ...

) through Jackson except 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 ...

, which was then a major competitor with the Michigan Central, and the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...

. Construction began in late 1872, and finished in the summer of 1873. Passenger service into Jackson remained high until the coming of the automobile.

New York Central 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 Midw ...

service along the Chicago-Detroit-Buffalo-New York ''New York Special'' and the ''

Wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...

'' (operating on the same route) made stops at Jackson. Other routes were the Chicago-Toronto ''

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

;'' the Chicago-Detroit '' Chicago Mercury''; a

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

-Jackson train; and a Jackson-Lansing-Saginaw-Bay City train. Service to Bay City and Saginaw ended in 1959, and service to Toronto ended in 1961. In 1964, when I-94 was completed, ridership dropped dramatically. In 1971, Amtrak took over the Detroit-Chicago passenger service through Jackson, which remains the only current service in the station. In 1978, the station underwent a refurbishing inspired by the nation's Bicentennial celebrations. Workers cleaned the brick exterior, reground the terazzo floors and refinished the elaborate wood trim and benches. Artist Leland Beamon created a mural showing the depot in 1904 alongside a modern

Turboliner The Turboliners were a family of gas turbine trainsets built for Amtrak in the 1970s. They were among the first new equipment purchased by Amtrak to update its fleet with faster, more modern trains. The first batch, known as RTG, were built by ...

Amtrak train. Also in 1978, a former disgruntled New York Central employee named Rudy Bladel killed three former coworkers at the station. The murder trial led to a U.S. Supreme Court case, '' Michigan v. Jackson'', on the admissibility of confessions. Additional improvements were made in 2008, 2013, and 2018.

Description

The Jackson Station consists of two buildings: the depot proper and nearby Express Building. The depot is a single story red brick

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

structure, measuring about 325 feet in length and 44 feet in width. The building has two-story blocks measuring 23 feet by 45 feet extending from the roof at either end. The building sits on a foundation of light brownish sandstone with a whitish sandstone sillcourse running on top. The long walls are divided into sixteen bays by projecting brick piers; each bay contains a single window or door. The windows are narrow, tall six-over-six sash units with a three-light transom above, placed in an arched head opening with a five-piece segmental sandstone lintel above and a sandstone sill below. The building's ends each contain a double doorway and a coupled window on the second story above. The flanking sections of the two-story blocks contain single second-floor windows. The building has a gable roof on the main section, with hipped roofs on the two-story blocks; the roofs are covered with modern asphalt shingles. The eaves have sheet metal cornices. On the track side, a wooden canopy runs along most of the building. The canopy is supported by cast iron columns. The Express Building is a single-story L-shaped, brick building with a hip roof. It measures approximately 98 feet by 82 feet along the longest sides. It sits on a light brownish sandstone foundation. The elevations are divided into bays by brick piers, with each bay containing a freight door or window.

References

External links

Jackson station – USA Rail Guide (TrainWeb)
(Michigan Internet Railroad History Museum) {{Amtrak Michigan stations Amtrak stations in Michigan Former Michigan Central Railroad stations Jackson, Michigan Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Buildings and structures in Jackson County, Michigan Transportation in Jackson County, Michigan Italianate architecture in Michigan Railway stations in the United States opened in 1873 1841 establishments in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Jackson County, Michigan Michigan Line