A PROUD HISTORY
The last train to leave Michigan Central
Station would occur at 11:30 a.m. on
Jan. 5, 1988. It was train No. 353 bound
for Chicago. The decades of earlier
activity often included notable events
in Jewish Detroit history. When the
sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak
Schneersohn, a world-famous scholar,
traveled to Detroit in 1930, a special route
was arranged for his admirers to gather at
Michigan Central Depot for his arrival on
a Tuesday afternoon and lead him to the
Emanuel Shul on Taylor Street.
When Detroit leaders needed to
travel to meet administration officials
in Washington, D.C., to communicate
urgent matters, they’d leave from
Michigan Central, and not dissimilar
from today’s train service from Detroit
— they could be delayed by many hours.
The delegation had to more creatively
alert their esteemed hosts of the delay
as it was two generations before mobile
phones were created.
The space would be the headquarters
for much industry — from a distillery
to a produce company — that would
receive shipments from the train
station. This economic activity would
empower generations of entrepreneurial
investments in the city.
The space would enable countless
families to congregate as their family
members went off to service in World
continued on page 36
The former
Michigan
Central Station
NOVEMBER 10 • 2022 | 35
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