RAILROAD SPUR AREA ONCE STOCKYARD SITE

Perhaps you have noticed that electric workers have been removing the "woods" growing over old railroad spurs on the west side of N. Eaton St. next to the "River Walk,"as they install new high-tension power lines. This area didn’t use to be overgrown with trees as such. One spur rail line, still buried there, serviced the McDougal & Young Coal Yard below and also adjacent storage sheds above. Perhaps you have noticed the "butt end"rail at the sidewalk on N. Eaton St. where this spur ended. Another spur line just to the north headed across N. Eaton St. to service the Albion Gas Light Company, and then across Clinton St. to service the Norman H. Wiener building in the early 20th century. That portion was removed in the 1950s. Currently workers have been removing spur rails west of N. Eaton St. as part of the clean-up.

The area where the majority of the clearing is taking place once contained storage sheds used for warehousing lumber, implements, and other materials that arrived in town by rail. One of the sheds also served as a coal warehouse. The 1966 "Bird’s Eye"view of Albion by Ruger shows these sheds, which in those days were used as part of Albion’s "stockyard."This is where sheep, cattle, and other animals were unloaded for area farmers. The animals would then be herded and driven along the middle of S. Eaton St. to W. Erie St. and to points south and west to their farm destinations.

It should be mentioned that there was a railroad water tower located here which stood until August, 1956 when it was demolished. Coal-powered steam engines were discontinued by the railroad in the mid-1950s as it switched to diesel fuel, and thus the water tower was no longer needed.

From our Historical Notebook this week we present an August 30, 1956 of the railroad water tower with the sheds in the distance along the side-rail tracks. Just behind them was the McDougal & Young Coal Year. Our second photograph shows how the same scene looked like on March 2, 2017.

	Frank Passic — Albion Historian An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page. Historical Notebook \| From the Archives \| Subject List \| 100 Years Ago \| Alphabetical Index \| Frank Passic Home Page \| Albion History Books \| Contact Frank
	Michigan Prints by Maggie LaNoue Michigan Prints offers limited-edition archival Giclée prints, miniprints, notecards and boxed sets featuring Michigan landmarks, nature, resorts and nostalgia. Each print and card includes a legend on the back with stories about Michigan history. Albion scenes include the Kalamazoo River waterfall and the Blizzard of 1978. Find Michigan Prints online and at local shops. Michigan Prints \| Albion Scenes \| Custom Cards \| Zazzle Gifts
	AlbionMich.net — General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net is a hub for community life in the greater Albion area, featuring current news, city council updates, river restoration stories, parks and trails. See Albion's beautiful Kalamazoo River waterfall as it looks today — and follow the story of its future restoration. Includes news from The Recorder and stories about Albion's 17 parks. AlbionMich.net \| Albion Blog \| Frank Passic on AlbionMich.net
	General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net offers two General Guides to the Albion area — one covering community life including city council, veterans, history, youth and wellness resources, and one covering the outdoors including roads, rivers, parks, trails and downtown. Both guides feature stories by local writers including contributors to The Recorder, sorted by topic for easy reference. General Guide — Community \| General Guide — Outdoors
	Robin James — Indices Unlimited Robin James is the editor of the Albion Historical Notebook and has kept Frank Passic's thousands of articles organized and searchable for decades. A trained librarian and archivist, Robin specializes in back-of-book and online indexing, multimedia collection management, and corporate information distribution. He also enjoys strange music and is a contributing editor for Igloo electronic music magazine. For more about his indexing services, visit Indices Unlimited.
AlbionDesign.com — Communications Specialists Since 1981 \| Advertise on AlbionMich.com