| Adrian City
Locations:
Adrian Time Line:
- 1836: The Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad begins horse drawn rail
service from Toledo to Adrian. It is the first railroad in Michigan
and the first to arrive in the City of Adrian.
- The E&K establishes a bank in Adrian in the 1830's.
- 1840: The "southern" railroad arrives in Adrian, the the first
depot is built there.
- 1843: The "southern" line moves west from Adrian, arriving at
Hudson.
- 1846: Private interests buy the "southern" line, and form the
Michigan Southern Railroad.
- 1840's: The Michigan Southern moves it's headquarters to Adrian,
the junction of the road with the E&K.
- John Campbell was Mayor of Adrian (1863-64) as well as Superintendent
of the Michigan Southern Railroad. According to Charles Lindquist,
curator of the Lenawee County Historical Museum, Campbell was an
extraordinary mayor and leader. Where most railroad superintendents
would have their own car attached to a train when travelling, Campbell
road with the crews and passengers, "personally observing every bit of
track which the train was riding on". [DT-2/28/2003]
- 1853: Henry Angell sets up a foundry in Adrian to manufacture
wheels for railroad cars. He later expands to build the entire car.
Adrian becomes a major industrial center for railroads.
[DT-2/28/2003]
- In the 1870-80's, the railroad industry declines resulting in the loss
of about 1,000 jobs in a town of about 8,000 people.
- 1880: Adrian businessmen step forward with $36,000 as a "bonus"
to help with construction costs of the Wabash Railroad. Railroad
tycoon Jay Gould comes to town to visit for a few hours.
- 1884: J. Wallace Page invents a loom for weaving "bounceback"
fencing that did not require farmers to retighten the fence after a farm
animal ran into it. The Page Woven Wire Fence Co. was incorporated
in 1889 and employed 600 men in Adrian.
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The City of Adrian is the county
seat of Lenawee County. The City was platted in 1828 and incorporated
as a Village in 1836. It became a City in 1853. Adrian was the
ending terminus of the Erie & Kalamazoo Railway, the state's
first railroad and perhaps the first railroad built west of the Alleghany
mountains.
Adrian was home to three
railroads:
-
The Lake Shore & Michigan
Southern (later, New York Central, then Penn Central, then Conrail)
-
The Wabash Railroad (later,
Norfolk & Western, then Norfolk Southern)
-
The Detroit, Lima & Northern
Railroad (later Detroit, Toledo & Ironton)
All three railroads crossed
somewhat near the city to form a triangle. Interlocking towers were
located at all of these crossings until the early 1930's. (See links
on the left). The city also had three train stations.
It should be noted that Adrian
was a major terminal in the 1800's for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern.
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