Mount Clemens Grand Trunk Depot / Michigan Transit Museum

The Grand Trunk Western Railway depot in Mount Clemens was built in 1859 when the line came through Mount Clemens as it was being built from Port Huron to Detroit. The Detroit Free Press of July 23, 1859 republished this item from the Mt. Clemens Advocate of July 21, 1859:

“The energetic contractors on the Grand Trunk line are pushing the work along rapidly. The track is laid some six miles above the village, and already the inhabitants of this vicinity are becoming habituated to the sound of the locomotive's whistle.”

The station's original interior included a passenger waiting room, a ticket booth, and the station agent's living quarters. The red brick comprising the depot's walls was fired at the J.R. Hall Brick Company in Detroit.

The Mount Clemens station was the site of an encounter with Thomas Alva Edison in 1862. Then fourteen years old, Edison was working as a newspaper and candy salesman, riding the line between Detroit and his home in Port Huron. While stopped at the Mount Clemens station, he observed the toddler son of station agent James Mackenzie straying into the path of a freight car, and swept the boy out of danger in the nick of time. Mackenzie offered to teach young Edison telegraphy in appreciation for saving his son's life. In a 1930 memoir, agent Mackenzie described the incident as follows:

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Standing on the back platform of a car, basket of papers in hand, Edison threw it down, saved a child's life and barely escaped himself.

J.U. Mackenzie Station Agent at Mount Clemens, Michigan, saw what he did and said, "Al you risked your own life to save my child. I'm a poor young man just beginning life myself, but I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll teach you telegraphing and give you your dinner every day for three months." Al was delighted and accepted the offer.

[end quote]

Some years later, after Edison established his research lab at Menlo Park, New Jersey, James U. Mackenzie joined him as a research associate and contributed to Edison's work on several inventions.

In 1947, the J. L. Hudson Company of Detroit sponsored a bronze plaque commemorating the Edison incident and placed it at the Mount Clemens depot.

The Grand Trunk abandoned passenger service on the railroad line through Mount Clemens in 1954; the depot was deeded to the City of Mount Clemens in 1980. The property was listed as a Michigan Historic Site in 1971 and on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. The City of Mount Clemens leased the station to the Michigan Transit Museum in 1983.

"The energetic contractors on the Grand Trunk line...," Detroit Free Press, July 23, 1859.

“The Grand Trunk is making some slight improvements...,” Mount Clemens Monitor, January 2, 1880.

"Honor Edison at Mount Clemens," Detroit Times, February 13, 1947, p.17.

Vincent, Maurice. “Grand Trunk passenger train chugs way into history Saturday,” Daily Monitor-Leader, July 16, 1954, p.1.

“Rail station becomes historic site,” Macomb Daily, August 26, 1971.

Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company to City of Mount Clemens, January 9, 1980, part of lot 20 of Assessor's Plat #15 of the City of Mount Clemens, Macomb County, Michigan, Macomb County Record of Deeds, liber 3246, p.610.

Nickerson, Albert. “Mt. Clemens now owns a little touch of history,” Macomb Daily, January 16, 1980.

Thomas, Charles. “Old Mt. Clemens depot to be restored,” Macomb Daily, January 19, 1981.

National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, Grand Trunk Western Railroad, Mount Clemens Station, listed 26 October 1981.

Selwa, Robert. “Old train depot finds a place on national register,” Macomb Daily, November 14, 1981, p.3A.

Walter, Joan. “Mt. Clemens ghost trains: rail depot becomes a museum,” Detroit News, March 24, 1983, p.1F.

Selwa, Robert. “Old rail depot has links with the past,” Macomb Daily, January 14, 1985, p.3A.

Satyanarayana, Megha. “Mt. Clemens train depot gets $30,000 for repairs,” Detroit Free Press, April 11, 2011.

“Reminiscence, James U MacKenzie, January 20th, 1930,” Edison Papers Digital Edition, accessed November 22, 2020, http://edison.rutgers.edu/digital/document/X001A5BA.