St. Thomas Elevated Park

This park was formerly a railway bridge for the Canada Southern line, which was also known as the Michigan Central Railway line. Although there has been a bridge over Kettle Creek since the Canada Southern line was completed in 1873, this particular bridge was built in 1929 by the New York Central railway, which also ran trains on the track and assumed control of MCR in the same year. (The same man, railway magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, owned both the MCR and NYC railways). Now, the bridge is a community-owned and community-run park.

Although it took many years for plans of a southern rail line to become a reality, the Canada Southern Railway became one of the most important lines to run through St. Thomas after its completion in 1873. In the early days of building, the CSR competed heavily with the Great Western Railway to be the first to connect Detroit and Buffalo. The two lines opened at roughly the same time in spring 1873 and regular traffic befan by the end of May of the same year.

However, the recession of the 1870s meant that CSR never became a profitable company. The company declared bankruptcy in 1874. Two years later it was taken over by the railway magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who also controlled the Michigan Central Railway (MCR) and New York Central Railway. MCR quickly became one of the largest employers in St. Thomas, with its locomotive shops employing over 600 men. In 1882, MCR leased the Canada Southern line. NYC assumed control of MCR in 1919. From that point forward, the line would see American companies run trains through St. Thomas. Starting in the 1960s, railway companies started merging as they competed with the trucking industry and declining passenger numbers: Penn Central and Conrail also ran trains through St. Thomas on the Canada Southern line at various times between the 1960s and 1990s. The line was jointly purchased by Canadian National railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1983 as service was gradually phased out.