railroad from Patterson Mills, now Belding, to Kiddville. The Ionia & Lansing Railroad had bypassed the
small village and instead built through Kiddville on their way to Greenville from Ionia. When they had the line
all graded and the bridges built ready for the iron, they donated the line to the Detroit, Lansing and Lake
Michigan Railroad, which was the old Ionia & Lansing line.
On September 18, 1872, the Greenville Independent reported that the D., L. & L. M. had completed track
laying on the branch into Belding. This track was operated as a branch from Belding to Kiddville.
January 1, 1874, a horse car started to serve passengers between Belding and Kiddville. H.H.Belding and
George Ellis organized a street railway company to operate the car. The equipment consisted of an old horse
car and one horse. The company planked between the rails for the horse to walk on. The capacity of the car
was twenty people and on a gala day or any other important happenings in Belding which caused added
patronage, the operator would attach two hand cars to the horse car as trailers to handle the extra crowd.
F.E.Raney operated the horse car from 1878 to 1880. The original photograph is on tin plate at the Alvah N.
Belding Library in Belding.
In July, 1888, the Detroit, Lansing and Northern, as the railroad is now named, started to back in or run into
Belding and the horse car was retired.
The Grand Rapids, Belding and Saginaw built an extension from Lowell to Belding in 1899. The Lowell &
Hastings crew ran a mixed train between Belding and Freeport. In 1900 the Grand Rapids, Belding and
Saginaw come under control of the Pere Marquette. A "cut off" was built between Greenville and Stanton.
The track from Greenville to Belding, Lowell and Elmdale was upgraded and it became part of the main line
between Grand Rapids and Saginaw. The line from Kiddville to Ionia was pulled up in 1941.
 |