MICHIGAN TALES : 2015

POTTER STREET STATION

As a young child in the 1980's we would take trips to visit our grandparents out at the farm. On our way out there, sometimes we would take Washington St. in downtown Saginaw. As we neared Potter Street (I only knew it as the road near the railroad tracks at the time) I would reach my neck out straining to get a quick glimpse of the Potter Street Station. I would force myself not to blink so I wouldn't miss the clock tower of the building standing so majestic among the run down buildings surrounding the place. Although the train depot was no longer running at that point in time, I was still in awe by the size and thought of what it must have been like back in the day.

"Pleaseeeee can we go take a closer look at it!!!" I would beg from the back seat.

"No. We can't go down there. The Boogyman lives down there and you will get shot." my mom would reply. "You must NEVER go down there!" she warned.

Those words hung in my head for the majority of my life. It was as if God was telling Eve DO NOT EAT FROM THAT TREE in the Garden of Eden. So only a few seconds of a glimpse would have to suffice as we would drive down the street a few times a year, if that.

photo used from The Saginaw News by Jeff Schrier.

On April 16, 1991, when I was 14 years old, an arsonist sought out his work on the Potter Street Station. I was crushed. This beautiful building has now come to ruin. Again, I asked my mom to see if we can drive out to see the remains of the building only to be refused again and reminded that the boogyman lives down there and I would be shot. Believing that the entire building is now a pile of rubble I never gave the depot another thought.

Years passed, I moved away and lived life. Then, in 2013, I took a trip out to the family farm with my own family. While leaving my grandparents place I decided to take Washington St. back into Saginaw to show my children places where mommy used to go to when I was child. Like habit, when the railroad tracks came closer, I looked to the left to remember the remains of the old train depot. To my surprise a shell of a building still remained. I think I even gasped. It was there. The building was there, worn and tired looking, but still in existence.

My mom's words still echoed in my head. "DON'T GO DOWN THERE. THE BOOGIEMAN LIVES THERE. YOU WILL DIE."

It took me about a block to realize that the boogyman have to sleep sometime. It was a beautiful day and the sun was out. After all, don't boogymen come out only at night? The temptation was too great. I don't get to come back to Saginaw very often and I didn't want to live with regret of passing up a moment and never having that moment again. I turned the car around.

Making a right onto Potter's Street I caught myself holding my breath. I was passing onto forbidden territory by my mother's orders. I looked at the windows of the abandoned buildings on the street to see if a boogyman was there waiting for our arrival. Nothing. Just decayed old buildings that were screaming of a past when they were full of life. I could picture one being a flower shop, and another a boarding house, and perhaps a diner in another building. A world of the past opened up in front of my eyes.

I could picture back in its heyday people scurrying about trying to make their train on time, the sounds of the trains, horse buggies sharing the road with newly invented automobiles. Families, that moved out from the east part of the country, making a new start in Michigan coming off the train. Soldiers, heading off to the military to serve their time for our country, hugging and kissing their loved ones good-bye, and the silence of those returning from the war in boxes made their way through the depot. I learned later that there was even a casket maker business ran by Richard Froeber for those who gave their lives serving the Great War and World War II. People from Saginaw were able to travel west across the state to Lake Michigan using Flint & Pere Marquette railroad. Those who came by train, this depot was the first image they had of Saginaw.

Photo used from the Saginaw News by Jeff Schrier

Flint & Pere Marquette Union Station, otherwise known as Potter Street Station, was built in 1881 by New York architect Bradford Lee Gilbert. He is known for enlarging the first Grand Central Station in New York and for building one of New York's first skyscraper with a steel skeleton design "The Tower Building" in 1889. At the time of building the Potter Street Station Victorian style building, located at 501 Potter St. Saginaw, Michigan, it was the largest in the state as well as largest in the United States. Now it is the second largest in the state, with the Detroit Central Station being the largest (and largest in the world at the time it was built in 1914). It is 285 feet long and 40 feet wide with 2 and a half stories in height. Inside, it housed bagging rooms, a restaurant, as well as a casket maker as mentioned earlier. There were gentlemen and ladies waiting rooms complete with fireplaces. The second floor was mainly used for office work and holding the large vaults. The janitor would store his items in the upper parts of the depot.

Saginaw County was founded in 1822. In 1857, the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad decided to put in a rail line from Flint to Ludington (used to be called Pere Marquette). The first of the line was laid near Washington St. and Potter St. in 1859. The first trip of the railroad was on January 20, 1862 from Saginaw to Mount Morris with 100 people from Saginaw making that trip. It wasn't until 19 years later did the construction of the Flint & Pere Marquette Union Station start.

The Potter Street Station went through many hands in ownership. In 1947 the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway took over in 1947. Due to an increase in usage of the automobile train usage declined rapidly. In 1950 the C&O Railway stopped passenger use altogether. In 1955 plans were discussed about tearing down the station and putting up a warehouse but the plans fell through. CSX ended up with the station and officially closed its doors in 1986. A few years later CSX tried to sell the depot to the City of Saginaw for $1.00 but no sale. Instead the City of Saginaw told CSX to demolish the building. Local historians stepped forward to stop the demolition. The Saginaw Depot Preservation Corporation (SDPC) ended up purchasing the depot for $10,000 in order to restore the beauty of the depot. They are still the current owners of it. Then Governor John Engler granted $181,600 to the City of Saginaw to help preserve the Potter Street Station. On November 29, 1996 it is added to the National Register of Historic Places #96001378.

"Welcome to Potter Street Station"

The Saginaw Depot Preservation Corporation is currently working hard to help preserve this treasure in Saginaw's past. Their mission statement says it best, "We must preserve that which our forefathers left in trust for us to pass on to future generations for their awareness and appreciation of their ancestors." A video has been put together in dedication to the Potter Street Station called "Welcome to Potter Street Station." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5eVE000PQQ

Local ghost hunter groups tour the depot to catch a glimpse of a lady in white or other ghosts that may roam the grounds. A movie was even made by a local Saginaw man, Steven Shippy, called "A Haunting on Potter Street: The Potter Street Station" in 2012. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2658192/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt

I don't know about any ghosts in or around the building but I do know that the boogyman never attacked me that day I went to see the depot up close. Just like Eve's eyes were opened when biting that forbidden fruit, my eyes were opened when driving down that road for the first time and taking a look at what history this depot had to hold.

The following are pics from my second trip to the Potter Street Station in 2014.