Station: Bankers, MI

Bankers was a small hamlet four miles southwest of Hillsdale in Hillsdale County. It was settled about 1838 by Horace and George Banker.  It gained some notoriety as the sudden terminus of the Detroit, Hillsdale and Indiana railroad which connected with the Fort Wayne and Jackson railroad at this location.

Notes

According to a 1974 article in the Hillsdale Daily News, in the very early days, Bankers was larger than Hillsdale and boasted of a depot. roundhouse, slaughter houses, cooper shop where barrels were made, taverns, stockyards, hotels, etc. The DH&I soon truncated its line at Hillsdale after coming under Lake Shore & Michigan Southern ownership. Bankers remained a junction point for the old Ft. Wayne line which continued to exist for many years for car storage. Bankers also had a sawmill in the early years.

The Hillsdale County Historical Society notes that when the railroad first came to Bankers, they had no way to turn their locomotive. It has to be backed up to Hillsdale where a turntable was located. The Hillsdale turntable was later moved to Bankers.

Photo Info: Top, two members of a section crew and their track car in front of the Bankers station, pre-1900. [Hillsdale County Historical Society]. 2nd and 3rd photos, Hillsdale County switcher 1976, an EMD NW-2, is photographed south of Hillsdale near Bankers in 1976. [Doug Leffler]. 4th photo, Little River Railroad 110 is photographed crossing Quackenbush Road, south of Bankers in the early 1980's. [Doug Leffler]

Time Line

1926. Bankers had a telegraph office with an NYC train register. The office was open from 7:50 am to 7:15 pm. [ETT-1926]