Time Line - 1874

Last Year | Next Year

• Depression continues.

• January 1: A horse car with coach begins operation on the Belding Railroad, between Kiddville (on the I&L) and Belding. It connects with all passenger trains at Kiddville and the fare is 10 cents. [I&L]

• February 13: Six miners die in a dynamite explosion at the Phoenix Mine in Keweenaw County.

• March 27: Kalamazoo's first Grand Rapids & Indiana depot burns to the ground. It is replaced by a new depot which is still standing at the same location. [MT]

• May: Grand Rapids & Indiana RR opens their line from Fife Lake to  Petosky, connecting that city with Fort Wayne, Indiana. [MCR-75]

• July 24: An accident on the Detroit, Lansing & Lake Michigan at Trufant's station kills 7 and injures 15. A small beech tree fell in front of a gravel train, consisting of 10-12 flat cars and caboose. All of the fatalities and injuries were Dane and Swede track workers who were on the train. Every available physician from Greenville was summoned and took a mail train from town to the site. [I&L]

• August 5: The Toledo and State Line Railroad leases itself to the Pennsylvania. The line runs from the PRR's Summit Yard on the waterfront to Alexis. [AATHS-Spr/2002]

• September 25: The new DL&LM depot is opened in Ionia. The two story depot, with tower, replaces the temporary depot. The local newspaper boasts "There is one structure of the kind in the State that surpasses [our depot] and that is the new Central depot at Jackson". The building is 103' x 30', two story, with a basement kitchen for eating house. The first story is 15' high and has a baggage room, two waiting rooms, a dining room, telegraph and ticket offices. The 2nd floor is 12' high and has offices for the Division Superintendent, Master Mechanic and Road Master. A parlor bedroom for the telegraph operator, with night instruments is also on the 2nd floor. Over the dining room are the living rooms for the help of the railroad. The building is made from Ionia brick, with a stone foundation, slate roof, and is finished with pine throughout. The cost of the building is $12,000. [I&L]

• September: The new Union railroad bridge in Toledo (just north of the Lake Shore bridge) is opened for service. The bridge was used by the Wabash and Canada Southern, and to a lesser extent the Pennsylvania (which had its own bridge north of this location). [AATHS-Spr/2002]

• December 1: Flint & Pere Marquette RR completes the line from Reed City to Ludington. [MCR-75/MDOT/MRRC/AAD][PM45]

• East Saginaw and St. Clair Railroad (controlled by Flint & Pere Marquette) opens line in Saginaw, eventually going to Port Huron via. Vassar. [MRRC]

• Glencoe, Pinconning and Lake Shore Railroad builds 14-mile long east-west line from Pinconning to Glencoe, to take logs from the forest to a mill on Saginaw Bay at the mouth of the Pine River. [MRRC][NK]

• Thomas Edison introduces the quadruplex telegraph. [SAM] 

Time line Key:

• Railroad event in Michigan
• Event relating to mining
• Event related to car ferries
• Event outside of Michigan
• Improvement in Technology
• Railroad built or extended
• Railroad abandoned and/or removed
• Economic panic or depression