on this page I found on a 1875 Montcalm
County map printed on cloth at the
Clarke Library. The map on the left is of
Stanton. At this date Stanton is the end of
the railroad. The map shows that the
railroad has constructed a engine house
and a turntable to turn the engine for
returning to Ionia. Stanton station is
shown on the west side of the track.
Numerous wood product companies are
around the railroad. Gilbert Lumber
Yard, Geo. Case Shingle Mill, and
Windsor Shingle Mill to name a few.
Fred for Fred Hall. Fred Hall lives in
Ionia and had been in the state
legislature, President of the First
National Bank in Ionia and was also
Ionia's first Mayor. On his request, the
name was changed to Stanton, in honor
of Edwin M. Stanton, President
Lincoln's Secretary of War.
The depot at Stanton was demolished in
1922. Photo from a post card.
on the east side of the tracks just north of Washington
St. There is a rail spur curving to the east to E.H.
Stanton & Sons sawmill. E.H. Stanton was a director
and secretary and treasurer of the I., S. & N. R.R. J.C.
Blanchard & Co. lumber yard is on the west side of the
tracks across from the depot. Blanchard was an early
investor in the Ionia & Stanton Railroad in 1869.
Another company of wood products in Sheridan was
Taylor & Hudson who manufactured staves.
onto a flat car. W.B. Stone owned land
along the railroad south of Colby Lake.
He also had a saw mill in the north end
of Sheridan. W.B. Stone was on the
board of directors for the Ionia, Stanton
& Northern Railroad.
Photo from White Pine Library, Stanton.
shows the railroad between Ionia and Stanton. Between Stanton and
Sheridan there is shown two rail spurs. One goes east to Fishville
and the other goes west to Sidney. The Sidney spur was a private
logging company owned by James Towle. Towle operated in Sidney
township from 1883 to 1890.
In June of 1880 the railroad wanted one hundred men and thirty
teams to build a branch to Fishville. In about five years the pine was
gone and the rails were pulled up in April, 1885.
between Stanton and Greenville. The passenger train is running on the new extension. The railroad
is now the Pere Marquette and the railroad has up graded their track from Stanton to Greenville,
Belding, Lowell and Elmdale to be the main line between Saginaw and Grand Rapids. On the right
is the branch to Ionia. To the right of the Ionia branch is the first lumber mill of James Willet. With
the harvesting of the pine forests north of Ionia about over, the line from Ionia to Stanton falls upon
hard tines and was removed in 1933. Photo, White Pine Library, Stanton.
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