Michigan Central Station was built in 1913 for the Michigan Central Railroad, and was Detroit, Michigan’s passenger rail depot from its opening in 1913 until the last train pulled away in 1988.

The station is located in the Corktown area, not an insignificant distance from Downtown Detroit. The reason for the placement this far from downtown was a hope that the station would be an anchor for prosperity to follow. Initially, things were looking up as Henry Ford began to buy land near the station in the 1920s and plans were made, but the Great Depression and other circumstances squelched this and many other development efforts. Further compounding MCS’s future problems was the fact that no large parking facility was included in the original design of the facility. So when the interurban service was discontinued less than two decades after MCS opened and streetcar service stopped in 1938, MCS was effectively isolated from a large majority of the population.

Despite this isolation, traffic to the station remained brisk.

During World War II, the station saw heavy military use, but once the war ended, passenger volume began to decline. Service was cut back and passenger traffic became so low that the owners of the station attempted to sell the facility in 1956 for US$5 million, one-third of its original building cost in 1913. Another attempt to sell the building occurred in 1963, but again there were no buyers. In 1967, maintenance costs were seen as too high relative to the decreasing passenger volume. The restaurant, arcade shops, and main entrance were closed, along with much of the main waiting room.

Things began to look better for the building when Amtrak took over the nation’s passenger rail service in 1971. The main waiting room and entrance were reopened in 1975 and a $1.25 million renovation project was begun in 1978. But only 6 years later, the building was sold for a transportation center project that never materialized. Then, on January 6, 1988, the last Amtrak train pulled away from the station after it was decided to close the facility.

In the interim it has served as a filming location for several motion pictures, but otherwise stands empty. It stands isolated. It’s a focal point for those for historians, and those with a soft spot for nostalgia. It’s A focal point for scrappers, thieves, vandals, and is considered the mecca for Urban explorers. In Detroit urban exploration, you haven’t been anywhere if you haven’t been inside the station.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Restoration projects and plans have gone as far as the negotiation process, but none has come to fruition. The Detroit City Council Voted to Demolish this beautiful structure in 2009, but a private citizen quickly filed a lawsuit to block the demolition citing the Historic Register Law. And so it stands …..in limbo.

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