Time Line - 1893

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• January 22: Fort Street Union Depot Co. opens line from 18th St. to 3rd Street.  [MRRC/MRC-10/1976]]

• January 21: First train arrives at new Fort Street Union Station.  The station houses the offices of the Pere Marquette and Fort Street Union Depot Company.   [DWS/DPH]  The original length of the viaduct leading up to the depot was 3,187 feet, but it was shortened over the years to 2,513 feet by filling in the ends.  [PH45]

• March 2: The Federal Government passes the Federal Safety Appliance Act of 1893 which makes air brakes and automatic couplers mandatory on railroads.  Railroads are given to January 1, 1898 to comply.   The act is signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison.   [AAD]

• May 14: An overwinding of the hoisting cage at the Red Jacket Mine in Calumet kills 10 miners.

• August 28: Boyne City and Southeastern opens line from Boyne City to Boyne Falls.  [MRRC]

• September 28: Miners in the Mansfield Mine near Crystal Falls break through above to the Michagamee River and the inrush of water kills 28.

• September 11: The LSMS Atlantic Express is robbed near Kendallville, Indiana.  Seven masked men shot the engineer.  Dynamite was used to blow open the express car door and the safe inside.  About $10,000 was taken.  [LS]

• October 13: Michigan Central RR passenger train wreck at Jackson kills 18 people. While stopped at the depot for dinner, the first section of a passenger special was struck from behind by the second section. Brake failure on the second train was suspected. [MDOT][DFP-1893-1014]

• October 19: Grand Trunk Western passenger train wreck at Battle Creek kills 26 people.   [MDOT][DFP-1893-1021]

• November 18: Alpena and Northern completed from Alpena to La Rocque.  (Note  GW notes that it reached May Lake near Millersburg in January, 1894.)  It is owned by Alger, Smith and Company, a logging firm which owns the Detroit, Bay City & Alpena.  [NK/GW]

• November 20: First passenger train travels from Alpena to Posen on the Alpena & Northern.  [AArgus-8/28/1895]

• November 22: The superintendent, principals and about 50 school teachers went from Alpena to Harrisville to attend a 4-county teachers convention. Railroad tickets were furnished at $1.50 round trip from Alpena to West Harrisville, and teachers were transferred from the depot to Harrisville by stage. [AArgus-1893-1122]

• Milwaukee & Northern RR completed line from Channing to Ontonagon.   [MDOT]

• Flint & Pere Marquette constructs a 5 1/2 mile extension of narrow gauge line from Port Austin to Grindstone City.  [PMHS]

• Atlantic & Lake Superior Railroad opens private mining road in Houghton County.  (Sec 4 T54N R34W to Sec 21 T55N R35W).  [MRRC]

• The Flint & Pere Marquette builds a new line from West Detroit (Oak) to Delray between 1991 and 1993.  [COHS-8/1997]

• Fall:  The Elkhart & Western is completed north of the St. Joseph River in Elkhart, west to Mishawaka.  A connection is made there with the Grand Trunk Railway at Main Street.  The branch leads to the industrial development of Elkhart's north side.  A connection was made with the Old Road, near Prairie Street in 1894.  This route was purchased by the Lake Shore in 1898.  [LS]

• The Chicago & North Michigan (controlled and operated by the Chicago & West Michigan Ry.) builds a line from Traverse City to Petosky and Bayview.  [NK]

• American Railway Union (ARU) founded by radical labor leader Eugene V. Debs.  [DWS]

• The Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee builds a new depot at South Tecumseh, where the road crossed the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Jackson Branch.  The depot continues to exist today, moved to downtown Tecumseh and used as a store.  [MRC-2/1995]

• The Detroit, Bay City & Alpena goes into receivership.  J. D. Hawks, the former Chief Engineer for the Michigan Central, is appointed Vice President and General Manager.  [GW]

• The Michigan Central builds a new brick and stone depot in Sturgis.  The depot is currently used (2001) by the Chamber of Commerce.  [MRT-I]

• The Flint & Pere Marquette rebuilds the superstructure of its Saginaw River bridge, substituting steel for wood trestles and designed to carry Coopers E-30 loading.  For the most part, the new superstructure was erected on the original foundations which were built in 1867.  [PM45]

• The predecessor to the PM builds the swing bridge is built in Charlevoix.  [MRC-4/1983]

• The Lake Shore finally completes double tracking of its line from Elkhart to Chicago.  It had been upgraded, in sections, over the last twenty years.  Year of completion is approximate.   [LS]

• The Pullman Company abandons what remains of its shops in Detroit.  [HWC]

• The Mackinac Transportation Company replaces the St. Ignace with the Sainte Marie, a new car ferry with three tracks on her main deck capable of holding eighteen cars and public rooms for passengers. The Sainte Marie is abandoned in 1927.  [AAD]

• New York Central locomotive 999 attains a speed of 112.5 miles per hour.  [STOV]

• Panic of 1893 causes depression which pushes many railroads into default or receivership.  [STOV]

 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