Michigan’s Historic Railroad Stations

Shepherd

145 S hepherd’s board-and-batten depot, a classic of smalltown railroad architecture, was built in the early 1890s, according to the Shepherd Area Historical Society, by the Toledo , Ann Arbor & North Michigan Railway, later the Ann Arbor Railroad. (There’s some contention over the date the station opened. The usually authoritative Inventory of the Railroad Depots in the State of Michigan says 1884.) More than anything, this station represents a tour de force on the part Circa 1890—Toledo, Ann Arbor & North Michigan Railway West Wright Avenue at North First Street ARCHITECT: Unknown LAST PASSENGER SERVICE: 1950 CONDITION: Good USE: Railroad Depot Museum Shepherd Located almost in the geographic center of the Lower Peninsula, Shepherd, just south of Mt. Pleasant, is a classic Michigan small town built on a largely agricultural base—hence the dramatic silos (top right) that give drama and punch to views of the town’s little board-andbatten depot.As such stations go, Shepherd’s is one of the handsomest, with a wealth of wood detailing—milled struts beneath the eaves, bead board under the gables, and crisp detailing around windows—unexpected in such a modest depot. One imagines some carpenter over a century ago, pouring his artistic ambitions into the simplest of buildings, and by his effort lifting it well above the ordinary. In this, Shepherd bears some resemblance to Mayville’s board-and-batten station, which also comes with unexpected grace notes.The Shepherd station , built about 1890, today houses a small railroad museum. 04 Part 3.indd 145 7/10/12 7:34 AM 146 of some unsung carpenter, whose embellishments give this simple shed its considerable zing. The design is partly Stick style, partly Carpenter Gothic, with narrow vertical battens, repeated at short intervals, that lend the building a verticality and lightness. Note also that beadboard replaces board and batten at the base of the building’s three gables, a nice, delicate touch. But the architectural stars here—without which this would be a much less charming structure—are the delicate , arched struts beneath the eaves, skewed triangles with a small, carved circle suspended at their center. Completing the composition, rather like an exclamation point, is a small downward-pointing finial. Much as at St. Johns, most of the visual drama at the Shepherd depot comes from the juxtaposition of a feminine little building overshadowed by hulking, masculine grain silos and other agricultural towers—a sight repeated over and over at rural railroad stations across Michigan. (The contrast is particularly striking at Pigeon, in Michigan’s Thumb, where truly astonishing silos form a complex that feels just a little Manhattanesque in its mass and looming scale.) Shepherd, population about fifteen hundred, is yet another example of town location being dictated by the railroad, not the other way around. The first settlement in the area, named Salt River, sat east of the present village. But in 1885, Isaac N. Shepherd’s wood struts beneath the eaves distinguish themselves with small circles suspended within a triangular frame. It’s a pretty detail on its own, one that really comes alive in strong sunlight when it casts a geometric shadow that’s hard to miss. 04 Part 3.indd 146 7/10/12 7:34 AM 147 Shepherd—nobody’s fool—platted the land west of Salt River where the railroad had laid down its tracks and began to erect buildings. Two years later, a fire consumed most of Salt River. Bowing to the inevitable, residents mostly moved west and rebuilt in Shepherd. Sitting almost at the geographic center of the Lower Peninsula , tiny Shepherd was of little particular interest to the Ann Arbor Railroad. Instead, it was just a means to an end—part of the track that took a straight northwest path from Ann Arbor to Frankfort on Lake Michigan. There the company established its most profitable transportation unit—the rail ferries that sailed across to Kewaunee, Wisconsin, and nearby towns. Long after the railroad itself was deep in the red, the lake crossing continued to make money. The ferries were eventually overhauled to carry cars as well, which allowed them to survive the end of the Ann Arbor Railroad passenger service in 1950. The Frankfort-Wisconsin ferries themselves were finally killed in 1968. As for the Shepherd depot, it was acquired by the local chamber of commerce and houses the Railroad Depot Museum, organized by the Shepherd Area Historical Society...