Grand Passenger Train Station in Niles MI
Niles Railroad Depot, Niles Michigan
The Niles Railroad Depot, built 1891-1892, was associated with the development of the Michigan Central Line and the City of Niles. It is one of the larger and finer surviving late 19th-century railroad stations in Michigan.
In 1837 the Michigan Legislature authorized the construction of three state-owned railroads. The Michigan Central, one of them, was to extend from Detroit to St. Joseph. The railroad, however, was completed only as far west as Kalamazoo before the state's funds were exhausted. In 1846 the line was sold to a group of Boston financiers; they changed the road's western termination from St. Joseph to New Buffalo and, in so doing, routed the line through Niles. The Michigan Central was finished to Niles in 1848 and was extended to New Buffalo the following year; by 1852 a rail link to Chicago was completed.
Niles was the last major stop on the Michigan Central for passengers, en route from the east, to Chicago. Railroad officials, in expectations of greatly increased ridership because of the Columbian Exposition to be held in Chicago in 1893, wished to make a final, lasting impression upon the visitors. Thus in 1891-92 they constructed the large station that stands today. The citizens of Niles were elated that the Michigan Central had picked Niles as the recipient of such a structure. The February 18th, 1892, Niles Daily Star, which covered the dedication, filled the first four pages with illustrative details of the depot and the history of the Michigan Central Line. The article ended with "we can now rejoice with the others and claim for Niles a depot of the most modern style of architecture, handsome and complete in every detail … Niles is deeply grateful to the Michigan Central for their generous gifts … "
But railroad officials were not satisfied. In 1892 they hired John Gipner, a German immigrant with a three-year gardening apprenticeship in Germany. Gipner, with the help of seven assistants, soon constructed two greenhouses and created an elaborate park and garden. Soon Niles gained the reputation of having the most beautiful station and grounds between Buffalo and Chicago. Gipner began a policy of passing out flowers or small bouquets to each woman passenger and this led to Niles being dubbed "the garden city." In 1935 the New York Central bought the Michigan Central and the greenhouses were torn down. Soon after the gardens went into neglect (Gipner had retired in 1927). Today the site of the gardens and greenhouse is a field.
The Niles Depot is one of a number of fine Richardsonian Romanesque stations built in Michigan and one of the few still used for its original purpose. The architects of the depot were Frederich Spier and William C. Rohns. This firm received many depot commissions from the Michigan Central and Grand Trunk railways and planned handsome stations in Battle Creek, Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Ann Arbor (the latter is now commonly known as the Gandy Dancer). Spier and Rohns also designed Tappan Hall at the University of Michigan, St. Thomas Church in Ann Arbor and the Sweetest Heart of Mary Church and Chamber of Commerce Building, both in Detroit.
The Niles station has remained in use as a depot since 1892 and, even though severely neglected, has retained much of its original fabric and character.
Building Description
The Niles Railroad Depot is a fine Richardsonian Romanesque structure erected in 1891-92. A sprawling, two-and-a-half-story, coursed-ashlar structure constructed of brown sandstone from Carroll, Ohio, it has a picturesque skyline of high hip and gable roofs dominated by a square, pyramid-roof clock tower. The clock tower, situated near the front center of the depot, rises to a height of 68 feet. The clock displays three faces and was manufactured in Boston by the Howard Brothers at a cost of $1,000. The five-foot-wide clock dials were illuminated and could be seen from a considerable distance both night and day.
The main section, at the west end, consists of a rectangular block, 65 by 54 feet in size, with an apsidal extension. The semi-circular section and street side of the block are fronted by a one-story veranda, whose shed roof is supported on cast-iron brackets.
This western section contains the waiting room (with fireplace), a ticket office, and restrooms on the first floor, and additional office space and a telegraph office (the latter now unused) on the second floor. The central section, visually separated from the waiting room block by front and rear entrance porches, housed a kitchen and dining facility on the first floor and an apartment for the cook on the second. The one-story eastern section, originally the baggage room, measures 25 by 35 feet and is connected to the central section by a covered walkway 50 feet long.
Structurally the depot has been altered very little. The waiting room, trimmed in carved oak and light terra cotta, had its original high ceiling lowered and a temporary wall installed in the 1960s. The kitchen and dining room in the central block have been converted (respectively) into the engineer's locker room and the baggage room. The exterior's architectural integrity is marred only by a lack of maintenance.