Michigan Central Railroad Passenger Depot

The Michigan Central Railroad Depot was the passenger station for the Michigan Central Railroad, connecting Detroit with Chicago, across Michigan. Designed by Frederick Spier, then with the Detroit firm of Spier and Rohn, the stone depot is one of the most distinctive examples of this building type in the region. The Ann Arbor Courier of January 20, 1886, noted that Mr. Hawks, engineer for the Michigan Central Railway, had disclosed the company's purchase of the "ground south of their tracks and west of State Street, where the brewery and other old buildings were" and the company's offer "to put up a station 100 feet by 40 feet in dimensions, with sheds similar to those at the Detroit Depot." The city had to build a bridge in order to insure that the company would construct the stone station. This was done and the work appears to have progressed quite rapidly. The Ann Arbor Courier of November 24, 1886, indicated that the station was completed by that date. However, details concerning the construction of the depot were obscured by the tremendous building boom experienced by Ann Arbor during 1886. The Ann Arbor Courier of April 27, 1887, carried an illustration of the recently completed Michigan Central Passenger Station with the comment that it was probably "the finest depot on the continent." The architect was Frederick Spier, who was born in Bueckeberg, Germany, in 1855. After studying architecture at the Holzminden Technical School, he immigrated to the United States in 1873, eventually settling in Detroit where he entered a partnership with William C. Rohns. Their firm received many commissions from the Michigan Central and Grand Trunk railways for the construction of train depots. Among these were stations in Battle Creek, Niles, Lansing, and Grand Rapids. Spier also designed Tappan Hall at the University of Michigan and St. Thomas Church in Ann Arbor.