Station: East Paris, MI

East Paris was settled in 1833 in Kent County, on the Pere Marquette line from Detroit to Grand Rapids,. about six miles east of Grand Rapids. [MPN]

Notes

Time Line

1890. The DL&N built a new depot at East Paris in 1890. [DL&N]

1903. December 26. A collision by two PM trains at East Paris kills 18 and injures 36. Locomotives, Baggage Cars and Day Coaches of both flyers were ground to pieces in the Impact. Extinguishment of Signal Light Said to Have Been the Cause -- Both Ill-fated Trains Were Heavily Loaded with Passengers.

No orders in sight - two trains trying to pass each other on the same track - and the Pere Marquette had the worst accident ever known on the road, with over 10 passengers killed, with half a dozen more likely to die and over thirty more or less injured.

Th fast train that leaves Detroit at 1:20 p.m. met the train that leaves Grand Rapids for the east at 5:20, head on, at a spot between Oakdale, six miles east of Grand Rapids, and Fox, a station a few miles further east, with the result that the two locomotives were turned into scrap iron in a moment, the baggage and mail cars of both trains were reduced to shells and spintered lumber, and the front ends of each of the day coaches were crushed, pinning many victims in the embrace of death.

Wreck Resulted From The Blowing Out of a Signal Light

Two minutes absence of a signal light caused the wreck, Supt. of Telegraph Weldman, of the PM, had some difficulty in getting at the bottom of the matter, but finally sat down to the wire himself and secured the following, which he read off to those about him as soon as the instrument ceased to click: "Both trans had orders to meet at Oakdale. The westbound No. 5 was not doing well as to time, so, to help out No. 6 the eastbound train, Dispatcher Halstead at Plymouth, who handles all trains on the division, changed the orders to have them meet at Fox, a siding next east of Oakdale. The eastbound No. 6 signed for the change at Ninth avenue, about a mile out of Grand Rapids, and the westbound was to get her orders at McCord. No. 5 went on through McCord, and the operator immediately reported that she had passed the signal point. He went out and found his signal light out. It had been burning and showed red two minutes before No. 5 came through. The high wind had extinguished it."

When it was discovered No. 5 had passed McCord without getting her order a message was telephoned to the operator at East Paris: 'Flag the Detroit Flyer! Hurry! Flat it!"

At that very instant, however, the operator heard the road of approaching train hurrying toward him. He rushed for the tracks but before he could reach them the train flew by him a terrific speed. It was thus that the engineer of No. 5 went on toward Oakdale in ignorance that orders awaited him at McCord. The collision occurred, according to the official report, one and one-quarter miles west of East Paris.

"The rumor that orders were given in an indefinite form, not naming the meeting point, is wrong." said Mr. Weldman. "When orders are given for trains to meet at a certain point, the name of the station or  siding is always given and the numbers of the trains and the engines to meet or pass." [DFP-1903-1227]