Williamston, MI: 16" (40cm) Leffel Turbine and 1893 Moved/PM Depot

Turbine Display: (Along this walkway. It evidently has yet to show up on a satellite image. This is a bench.)

Depot, original location: (Satellite)

Depot, current (1978) location: (Satellite)

The mill dam 

safe_image for 130-year-old mill turbine returns to Old Mill Park in Williamston

Street View, Sep 2019

While looking for the turbine, I found this marker.

Street View, Jul 2025

I searched hmdb and found that marker. The stone in the above view is a millstone.

hmdb, 2017 photo by Cosmos Mariner
In 1839, three Williams brothers travelled from New York State to settle here. In 1840, their father joined them to build a dam and sawmill on the north side of Red Cedar River. In 1842, a grist mill was built on the south side of the river. The town was renamed Williamstown in 1857 to honor the founding brothers.

Digitally Zoomed
The turbine is closer to 15" than 15'.

Digitally Zoomed

Operation: grain to flour

1. When delivered, grain was taken by a sack hoist, or a chute with a moving conveyor "elevator," to a bin on a higher floor.

2. From here, the miller directed the grain, down a wooden chute, to the right millstone.

3. The miller would carefully feed 50 to 100 pounds, depending on the type of grain, into the millstone hopper (upside down triangle), carefully manipulating the grain into the eye of the runner stone.

4. The grain then fell into a device, hung below the hopper with leather straps called a shoe. It is called a shoe because originally it looked like a wooden shoe. The shoe can be raised or lower at one end to allow more or less grain to fall into the millstones.

5. The damsel was attached to the runner stone and spins around with it at 125 rpm.

6. The grain traveled from the center out, through a gauntlet of specially dressed furrows, till it fell out the edge.

7. The ground grain collected in the surrounding wood vat and fell through the meal spout into a sack or tub.

8. The grain was collected and sent back upstairs where it was cleaned by hand or poured into a boulting machine, which sieved the bran out of the flour.

9.The finished product is directed down wooden chutes into bags for the farmer.

WilliamstonMuseum
The new depot opened for business on Jan 16, 1893.
"This third and final depot [the first two burned] continued to handle passengers in Williamston for the next seventy years, until 1963, when the state’s Public Service Commission ordered the service to end. Freight service continued for about an additional decade at the depot, before it was entirely closed. In the late 1970’s the Chessie Railroad System wanted to raze the boarded up depot and deemed it an eyesore and a hazard. In 1978, a local grass roots group supporting historic preservation began raising several thousand dollars needed to hire a mover and save it from demolition. On Wednesday, June 20, 1979 the depot was moved on a back of a truck from its railroad site to 369 West Grand River Avenue, on land donated by the city. For the next eight years, various fund raising efforts and hundreds of volunteer hours went into preserving and then renovating the depot building, as it opened in 1988."
The first depot was built near the end of Cedar Street.

 

Putnam Street is near the left side of this excerpt. This source says the 1893 depot was "on Putnam Street at the train tracks." So I presume it was located on the land that CSX has reused instead of the location of the first depot. (There are "rectangles" in both locations.)

Jul 1, 1976 @ 36,000; AR1VEEK00010005

Manique Wilson, Mar 2019

The depot is now a museum, and it is about general history.

Edward Gross, Oct 2018

Al Russell posted two photos with the comment:

**Tracing the Tracks: The Story of the Williamston Pere Marquette Depot!** 🚂🌾

Long before automobiles dominated Mid-Michigan travel, steam locomotives were the lifeblood of commerce and community connection in Ingham County. At the heart of that local transit boom was the **Williamston Pere Marquette Depot**.

Here is a look back at the origins, glory years, and preservation of this local landmark:

**1871: The Iron Horse Arrives**

Rail service arrived in Williamston in 1871 with the completion of the Detroit, Lansing & Lake Michigan Railroad (later reorganized into the Detroit, Lansing & Northern). The line connected Detroit directly to Lansing, forever changing how local farmers, coal miners, and merchants transported goods.

**1898–1899: A New Depot for a Growing Town**

As rail traffic expanded, a permanent, larger wooden depot was constructed on the south side of town along the tracks. Featuring classic board-and-batten siding, a telegraph operator's bay, and dual waiting rooms, the station served passengers, express mail, and agricultural freight.

**1900: Becoming Part of the Pere Marquette Railway**

At the turn of the century, several regional Michigan lines merged to form the famous **Pere Marquette Railway (PM)**. The Williamston station became an important stop along the Detroit–Lansing–Grand Rapids mainline, serving passenger trains like the famed *Resort Special* and local commuter runs. Nearby grain elevators, coal docks, and lumber yards all relied on the station’s siding tracks to move Michigan produce and industrial products across the Midwest.

**Mid-20th Century: Merger & Modernization**

In 1947, the Pere Marquette merged into the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O). While passenger service gradually declined as highway travel grew, the depot remained an operational landmark along the tracks through the mid-century era.

**Preservation & Legacy**

When the depot eventually faced relocation and decommissioning, local historians and community members stepped in to preserve the building. Today, while CSX mainline trains still rumble past the original rail corridor, the restored depot stands as a enduring monument to Ingham County's railroad heritage and small-town history!

**Footnotes & Sources:**

1. *Michigan Railroad Commission Annual Reports (1871–1900)* — Line construction dates for the Detroit, Lansing & Lake Michigan Railroad and subsequent Pere Marquette merger.

2. *Ingham County Historical Society & Williamston Depot Records* — Station architectural details, operational history, and preservation timeline.

3. *Pere Marquette Historical Society Historical Archive* — Passenger timetables, freight siding records, and mainline operations through Williamston.

#WilliamstonMI #MichiganHistory #PereMarquette #InghamCounty #RailroadHistory #PureMichigan #HistoricDepot #MichiganRailroads #LocalHistory 

(image 1 - Pere Marquette Depot in Williamston during its operating era.. Source: Facebook)

(Image 2 - The restored Williamston Depot as it stands today - The building was relocated a short distance from its original position on the tracks down to N. Putnam Street, where it was fully restored with classic green-and-tan wooden siding, decorative eave brackets, and red trim doors to preserve its late-19th-century railroad architecture.)

Tim Shanahan shared

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