'Like walking into a castle:' Your memories of Michigan Central | Letters to the Editor

For years, I have occasionally shared with family my recollections of the Michigan Central Station from when I visited it at the ages of 2 and 3, and later when I was 12 or 15 years old. I am now 81. I was agog with those visits! It was truly a magical experience.

My family and I lived in Detroit and my much older brother was in an army hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in the 1940s. My mom, older sister, and I traveled by train from Detroit to Alabama to visit him. My dad would always drive us to the station.

Going to Michigan Central was always an experience for a child as young as I was! When I saw it and walked into the station, it was like walking into a castle! The beautiful light coming from the very high ceiling and walls, the size of the waiting room, the long wooden benches, were all like a fantasy to me.

For a 2-year-old, sitting on one of those benches was unbelievable. I was totally enthralled with what I could not understand or explain.

The other exciting part of the visit was walking to the train. Entering that area with the sounds, smells and sights was incredible for a small child.

The steam coming from the engine of the train, and the sounds of the other trains pulling into the station; the conductors calling for you to board. The train was exciting!

Finding a seat so I could look out the window was a treat. Riding the train was its own experience.

In 1945, during one of our trips from Michigan Central, our train pulled to a side rail track to wait as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s funeral train passed by on its way to New York.

In the 1950s and 60s, relatives would come through Michigan Central from Chicago to visit us in Detroit. My father and I would be the ones to pick them up and return them to the station. It was always exciting for all of us to see that massive grand building standing there.

I have been enamored with the Michigan Central building my entire life. I have not visited the site since the 1950s or 60s. But I cannot wait to see it again fully restored! It had such meaning to our family. I will never forget it.

Katherine Dziurman

Rochester Hills

A 10-year-old's amazement at a marble urinal

This may sound weird, but my most vivid memory of the train station was the elegant men’s room. Urinals carved from marble! When one is 10 years old or so, this opulence left quite an impression.

Jonathan Walker

Colorado Springs, Colorado

'Underlying beauty and local significance'

My train station memory is probably a little more recent than other family histories.

In 2006, it was announced that the "Transformers" movie would be shooting in Detroit. After elementary school one day, my dad surprised my brother and me. Instead of heading home, we instead found ourselves downtown in front of Michigan Central Station.

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The entire front section was full of crew people working to set up for the shot. I had never been to the station before, nor had I ever witnessed movie magic in person. There it stood, massive, windowless and gorgeous. My 12-year-old mind was blown, imagining what it would look like on film.

We watched as a car-mounted camera chased after Shia LaBeouf, who ran into the building carrying a big black cube. At one point a man walked up to us, introduced himself as the producer and asked if we would like to get closer and come watch on set. He explained what different people were doing to put the shot together, and after filming wrapped up, he even brought LaBeouf over to meet us. My brother and me even had our pictures taken with him for a local paper.

Movies are my greatest passion today as an adult, watching them in theaters and diving deep into how they were made takes up most of my free time. That passion was instilled in me that day at Michigan Central.

Later on in college, my first year at Wayne State, we were assigned a group project to research and write about an icon of Detroit that we felt represented the city, I suggested Michigan Central. I was living downtown at the time without a car, so I had to convince a groupmate to take us.

I remember standing there again in awe, but this time, a fence was put up preventing us from getting too close. After snapping a few pics, we were ready to leave when a homeless man approached us. Instead of asking for anything from us, he asked what was we were looking at.

We explained the nature of the assignment and something lit up in him. The man began rattling off facts, walking us through the history of the building and even offered to show us around. We were cautious to follow a stranger but his passion for the building's story convinced us.

He showed us the back side and explained how the current rails and platforms differed from its prime. He even showed us how someone could theoretically get through the fence to take a look inside the first floor. We got him a well-earned burger and milkshake from Mercury Bar afterwards and it wasn't until I got back to my dorm I realized I didn't have his name to properly cite him for my paper.

The thesis was about how the Michigan Central Station was a symbol of Detroit. Some of my group members took a more cynical, face value approach. But, my memory of that fateful movie shoot and the passion of our local guide inspired me to write about the potential, underlying beauty and local significance of the station. I'm ecstatic to see all of that become a reality today.

Max Sydorchuk

Farmington Hills

'Like a temple in Ancient Rome'

In 1999, my dad and I crawled underneath the chain link fence of Michigan Central Station. Visiting an abandoned ruin was overwhelming for teenage me, but with my dad, I felt safe. The waiting room was covered in graffiti, its plaster broken, but it was beautiful.

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The hall was like a temple in Ancient Rome, yet there we were, in Detroit! I wondered what circumstances would have caused a building so spectacular to be abandoned. I had so many questions; I was hooked on historic architecture.

Twenty-five years later, Ford Motor Company has restored Michigan Central Station, and I own Preservation Futures, a preservation firm based in Chicago. I can trace my interest in preservation to that trip to Michigan Central — and have my dad, a retired Ford engineer — to thank for it!

Elizabeth Ann Blasius

Chicago

Quiet as a cathedral

My family moved from Los Angeles to Detroit in 1957. Although our initial trip was made by airplane, we traveled back to Southern California several times by train. We went back in the winter of '59 on the El Capitan. We took a cab down to the station.

A memory I have is of leaving warm, floral L.A. and arriving back in Detroit three days later in a blizzard. We drove down once to pick up my grandmother who came to visit. I went with my Dad on a business trip — we stayed in a compartment. I recall trying to read as many comic books as I could on the stand before our train got called. It was so quiet sitting in the waiting area, like a cathedral.

I moved out to the West Coast in the 70s and took Amtrak back to Detroit around 1975. I remember how disappointed I was that much of the station had been boarded up.

Nick Pedicini

Lexington, Kentucky

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The big city

I remember a one-day family vacation of sorts, taking a train from Michigan Central to Grand Rapids and back. I was 7. It was summer 1962. I recall voices echoing in the towering lobby. I was in the big city now and loved it.

There was a well-stocked news stand with magazines, tabloids and traditional papers. I saw The Sporting News on a rack, and asked my dad if I could have a copy.

On the pre-Amtrak passenger train, I read a story by Norm Cash (likely ghost-written by a sportswriter) about his two Detroit Tigers teammates, Al Kaline and Rocky Colavito. Cash described their home run hitting styles — Kaline hit long line drives and Colavito towering flies.

Kevin Brown

Ann Arbor

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'The wheels of the trains seemed bigger than I was'

I remember going to Michigan Central Station as a very young child with my mother and brother to take the train up north. My dad stayed in Detroit to work and we would travel up to my grandparents house in the Upper Peninsula. The train took us to Mackinac City and then we took a boat to St. Ignace.

I have one vivid memory of waiting in an area that was huge with wooden benches and it was very loud. When it was time to board, we walked out to get on our train, walking between trains with steam around them.

Being so small, the wheels of the trains seemed bigger than I was. The conductor would help me onto the train, which was good because the steps were difficult for a young child.

I also remember using the train station as a “cut through” when we’d go to a Tigers game at Briggs Stadium. Our group would walk to a “Ladies Day” game and one of our group worked at Michigan Central so she led us through the station short cut.

So wonderful to see the station has been beautifully restored. Also great that it will actually be used by Ford employees and other businesses relocating in Detroit.

Having grown up in southwest Detroit, it’s wonderful seeing the area’s revitalization and Michigan Central is a major part of that.

Mary Joslin

Tecumseh, Michigan

Riding the train alone at 13

The only time I remember going to Michigan Central was 1965, my brother and his wife were living in Big Rapids. My mother took me to the train station in order for me to travel to Grand Rapids to spend the weekend with them.

Here I was, a 13 year old boy on the train by myself. What an experience!

Douglas Mitchell

Howell

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Central Station memories from readers | Letters to the Editor