On August 1st, 1931, the brand new GRAND TRUNK Passenger Station was opened at Eton and East Maple. That day there were two parades, lots of speeches and a crowd of at least 25,000 people watching the festivities as two passenger trains met for the first time on the brand new tracks.
The GRAND TRUNK originally ran through the center of town along a right of way that later became Hunter Boulevard but which has recently been renamed Woodward Avenue.
A century ago, the old single track Grand Trunk line heading northward out of Birmingham looked like this. The curve you see in this picture is the one that presently exists near the point where Wimbleton intersects with Woodward. The steel rails were pulled up in 1931 and replaced, in 1939, with an 8 lane concrete highway.
The State of Michigan wanted the old GRAND TRUNK right of way from Royal Oak to Bloomfield Hills for a widened Woodward Avenue. The State offered to build a new rail line about a mile to the east if the GRAND TRUNK would cede their old right of way for highway purposes. The railroad agreed and that is why a new Birmingham depot was required.
When GRAND TRUNK passenger service was discontinued in the 1970's, the Depot was no longer needed. It now houses the BIG ROCK CHOP & BREW HOUSE.
Daily scheduled passenger service between Chicago and Pontiac, via Birmingham, resumed on May 3, 1993 when AMTRAK arrived with this special Inaugural Train.
AMTRAK has a small, unmanned, glass enclosed structure as a waiting room in Birmingham. It is located several hundred feet south of the former GRAND TRUNK station. It recently replaced a similar small enclosure that was used for a few years by the SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY (SEMTA) which at one time ran 3 round trip commuter trains a day between Pontiac and Detroit after GRAND TRUNK discontinued Interstate passenger service.
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