This cache is on the former grade of the Pennsylvania Railroad, now the White Pine Trail and the parking lot for the park and trail, near the former Leroy depot site. Parking is available at the village park.
Northbound GR&I train approaching LeRoy, courtesy of RRHX, Alan Loftis Collection
LeRoy began as a small settlement created in 1871 when the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad was being constructed northward. A post office was established in 1871. The village was incorporated on February 2nd, 1873 and a store and a hotel were opened. The town soon boasted a planing mill, a flour mill and feed dealer, a grocery store with boots, drugs and dry goods, a cobbler, a meat market and a saloon. Soon after, a restaurant, barber shop and skating rink were opened. In time, LeRoy supported three churches and several social clubs, including the Odd Fellows, Victoria Lodge of Rebecca and the Encampment of Le Roy and Rose Lake.
Today, LeRoy is a pleasant, thriving small town with several businesses and small stores, a village and a museum.
1878 plat of LeRoy, LeRoy Township, Osceola County, Michigan
The GR&I began service between Grand Rapids and Cedar Springs on Christmas Day, 1867. By the middle of 1869, the rails were down as far as Morley and on to Paris in the fall of 1870. Trackage was also completed between Grand Rapids and Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1871, the GR&I acquired the Cincinnati, Richmond & Fort Wayne Railroad Company, extending the GR&I to Cincinnati. Trackage was extending northward as well. By late 1872, a branch was completed between Walton to Traverse City. By the end of 1873, the line reached Petoskey and in 1882, Mackinaw City, becoming the longest north-south line in the country, at that time. As such, it had a large role in the settlement of northern Michigan. In 1886, the railroad also built a line connecting Grand Rapids and Muskegon.
The primary business in the early years was timber and lumber. This shifted to tourism and the GR&I advertised itself as "The Fishing Line". In partnership with the Michigan Central Railroad, the company built and opened the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in 1887. In 1918, the GR&I was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad, which operated it until 1975. The Michigan DOT purchased it and leased it to the Michigan Northern Railroad until 1984.
Today, most of the line is gone. The portion of the line between Grand Rapids and Cadillac has become the White Pine Trail. The trail, a state park, is open to hikers and bicyclists in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter.
Sources:
Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad depot photos/
Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad
Michigan Place Names, Walter Romig, L.H.D., © Wayne State University Press, 1986
Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companies, Graydon Meints © 1992, Michigan State University Press
Michigan RailroadLines, Graydon Meints © 2005, Michigan State University Press
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