Union Depot (Lansing, Michigan) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lansing
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The Union Depot in Lansing, Michigan
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| Location | 637 East Michigan Avenue., Lansing, Michigan 48912 | ||||||||||
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Union Depot
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| Location | 637 E. Michigan Ave. Lansing, Michigan |
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| Built | 1901 | ||||||||||
| Architect | Spier and Rohns | ||||||||||
| Architectural style | Tudor Revival | ||||||||||
| NRHP reference No. | 95000869 | ||||||||||
| Added to NRHP | July 21, 1995 | ||||||||||
The Union Depot is an old train station in Lansing, Michigan. You can find it at 637 East Michigan Avenue. This building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. This means it's an important historical place.
Contents
History of the Union Depot
Early Trains Arrive in Lansing
Trains first came to Lansing in 1863. The Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay Railroad was the first. Another line, the Jackson & Lansing Railroad, arrived in 1864. In 1871, the Michigan Central Railroad started using these tracks.
Michigan Central built a wooden train station here in 1873. This station also served the Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Rail Road. That company had built tracks through Lansing in 1868. By 1900, this line became part of the Pere Marquette Railroad.
Building a New Station
By 1900, the old wooden station was too small. It could not handle all the passengers from both the Michigan Central and Pere Marquette Railways. So, the two companies decided to build a new, bigger station together.
They started building in late 1901. The new station was finished in 1902. The Detroit company Spier and Rohns designed the building. They designed many stations for Michigan Central.
End of Passenger Train Service
For many years, the new Union Depot served both train lines. But as more people started using cars, fewer people rode trains. The New York Central Railroad took over from Michigan Central. They stopped their passenger service in 1959.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway took over from the Pere Marquette. They kept passenger service to Lansing for a while. But in 1971, Amtrak took over most passenger trains in the U.S. Amtrak then ended all train service to Lansing.
A New Life as a Restaurant
After 1971, the train station was empty for several years. In 1978, a restaurant owner named Peter Jubeck bought the building. He turned it into a restaurant called Clara's Lansing Station.
He kept the beautiful wooden inside of the building. He also added new stained glass windows made by local artists. This gave the restaurant a special, historical feel. In 1994, Jubeck bought an old Pullman sleeper train car. He fixed it up and attached it to the building. This added more seating space for the restaurant in 1999.
Clara's Lansing Station was a sister restaurant to Clara's on the River. That restaurant was in another old train station in Battle Creek.
What Happened Next
Clara's Lansing Station closed on June 26, 2016. It had been open for 38 years. Later that year, a company called Gillespie Group bought the building. They plan to keep the station safe and find a new use for it in the future.
What the Union Depot Looks Like
The Lansing Union Depot is a single-story building. It has a sloped roof and walls made of light brown bricks. It also has limestone details. The building sits on a strong concrete base.
The depot is about 149 feet long and 35 feet wide. The roof used to have clay tiles, but now it has asphalt shingles. The roof has wide edges supported by special brackets. There are also round towers on one side with pointy, cone-shaped roofs. The building's style is called Tudor Revival.
