Station: Menominee, MI

Menominee was settled about 1836 when the Farnsworth & Brush company built a sawmill here, soon followed by others. The Chicago & North Western railroad came through here in 1871. The town became a city in 1883. [MPN]

Menominee, along with its neighbor Marinette, Wisconsin across the river, serves as a port and industrial center. The town is served by the C&NW (now CN) as well as the MILW (now E&LS). For many years, an Ann Arbor railroad car ferry brought cars over to this port from Elberta on the other side of Lake Michigan.

Photo Info: Top, an interurban car on Odgen Avenue looking east, in Menominee around 1910 in a postcard view. 2nd photo, a 2003 photo of the former Milwaukee Road depot in Menominee. [Greg Bunce]. 3rd photo, the same depot in the winter of 2007. [Dale Berry]

Notes

The Milwaukee Road depot here was built in 1885. It was located at 219 Third Street and measured 20' by 80' with a hipped room with wide overhanging eaves supported by wooden brackets. There is also a covered passenger waiting platform, 25' by 30' at the east end of the station. [UPM]

The C&NW and MILW both crossed the Menominee River from Marinette, WI on two separate sets of bridges, known as the "south" and "north" bridges. The MILW was west of the C&NW by a few yards.

Time Line

1895. August. The most destructive fire which ever visited Menominee started in the slab piles of Spies' lumber yard. The wind was blowing very hard and in 30 minutes the flames were beyond control and were threatening the entire city. The entire lumber yard of Spies, the Girard Lumber Co., and the Bay Shore Lumber Co. were burned. All the offices, barns and stables, oil houses, etc., were also consumed. The fire departments of Marinette and Peshtigo WI came to give assistance. It is estimated that 16,000,000 feet of lumber burned and hundreds of thousands of shingles and lath.

The site was a grand one and thousands of people watched the progress of the flames, filled with dread of possible danger to their homes. Seven dwellings of State & Jenkins' were totally burned and the Bay View house partially so. Clark's match factory stock is a complete loss. The total loss will reach $500,000. Four men were seriously injured. Chief Kratz of the fire department had his nose fractured but went back to the fire. He was carried out of a building insensible. But for the gallant work of the fire departments the city would probably have been swept away. [BBAN-1895-0808]

1906. November 16. The office of general passenger and freight agency for the Wisconsin & Michigan railway is moved from Menominee to Chicago. [RG-1906-1116]

1916. The C&NW builds a  new station here. The track layout here is changed. [MCR-1916]

1917. Passenger train 122 with the 1085 in the lead, hits a street car in North Menominee. [EDO-1948-1217]

1918. MILW had a station agent here on all three shifts. The C&NW had an operator on the day and afternoon shift. [TRT]

1943. The C&NW has a flagman on duty at Quimby Avenue, Michigan Avenue and Jenkins Street during the day. [ETT]

1956. Public reaction in Menominee has been mixed, but mostly indignant, over the announcement of the C&NW railway of its intention to tear up its track through midtown Menominee and use the short-cut track across the west end of the community. The move would mean abandonment of the 7th Street passenger station and adjoining freight yard and freight station. Residents are concerned the move will be the elimination of Menominee from the railroad map by consolidating passenger and freight facilities in Marinette. However, the proposal calls for the erection of a combined passenger-freight station in North Menominee. It would be north of the "Y" near the Signal Electric plant, because the parallel tracks of the Milwaukee Road along the west end of the shortcut are east of the C&NW tracks. [EDP-1956-0427]

1969. Chicago & North Western railway officials said to-day that the once-famous Peninsula "400" will make its final runs next Tuesday, ending service to Escanaba when passengers are discharged at the 3rd Avenue North depot at 12:28 a.m. Wednesday, July 16. The final southbound run will leave Escanaba early next Tuesday morning. Discontinuance of Trains 209 and 214, barring an unforeseen development, was assured when the Interstate commerce Commission ruled that it would not intervene, despite protects in the cities of Escanaba, Menominee and Marinette, Wis. The decision was reached "in view of the modest patronage on the subject trains; the substantial deficits incurred in their operation, and the proposed bus service which would be provided between Green Bay and Ishpeming.", reported Andrew Anthony Jr., acting secretary for the ICC. [EDP-1969-1029]

Industry

J.W. Wells Company. (xxxx → 1906 → xxxx) Mill. [AML-1/13/1906]

Prescott Company. - Manufacturer of saw mill machinery. Mill outfits are shipped to every part of the country. (1906 → xxxx) [AML-1/6/1906]