Grand Trunk Western Railroad, Mount Clemens Station

The Grand Trunk Western Rail Station at Mount Clemens notes the advent of rail passenger service to the city, and marks the site where famous inventor Thomas Edison learned his first lessons in train telegraphy.

The Grand Trunk Western Rail Station (Mount Clemens Depot) is located on a one acre site on Grand Avenue facing south-east toward Cass Avenue and east of the Grand Trunk's rail tracks in Mount Clemens' business district. It is a one-story, rectangular Italianate brick building with wooden trim and gabled roof, measuring 30 feet in width and 50 feet in length, and rests on a stone foundation. Constructed as a passenger depot along the Grand Trunk's Port Huron-Detroit route, it was completed in 1859. The walls of the station are faced with red pressed brick, fired at the J. R. Hall Brick Company in Detroit, and coursed in common bond. Yellow brick quoins accent facade corners. The long sides of the station are divided into five bays of arched fenestration with yellow brick hood moulds. The gabled ends of the building feature two bays of arched windows with yellow brick hood moulds, surmounted by a yellow, brick-enframed recessed ocular window. Rounded arch wooden brackets support a steeply-pitched, shingled gabled roof with eight-foot extended eaves. The original interior contained a waiting room, ticket booth and the agent's living quarters. In the 1880's the ticket booth wall was enclosed, providing larger room for the resident agent. Grand Trunk closed its passenger station in 1953. From 1953 to 1978, the station housed several local businesses. Purchased by the City of Mount Clemens in 1980, the station's interior is presently under restoration as a railroad museum and library through the volunteer efforts of the Michigan Transit Museum and the Macomb County Historical Society.