Mackinaw City Railroad Dock

Mackinaw City Railroad Dock is a Michigan historical marker in Mackinaw City, Cheboygan County, dedicated 2008.

131 S. Huron Street, Mackinaw City

Get directions ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

Before the Mackinac Bridge opened in 1957, ships were the only means of connecting Michigan’s peninsulas. During the 1870s, small sailing vessels served as ferries. Steamboats took over when the Michigan Central Railroad reached Mackinaw in 1881. The creation of a railroad car ferry system and the construction of this dock and one like it in St. Ignace enabled ferries to shuttle rail cars across the Straits of Mackinac year-round. The A-frame adjusted the height of the tracks to match the track on the decks of the ships. Upper Peninsula copper and iron ore were the main cargo. The ice-breaking ferry CHIEF WAWATAM was unique for loading cars through the bow. It ceased operations in 1984 and the tracks were removed in 1991.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1874 · Colton's Michigan (1874) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1897 · Southern Michigan. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1907 · Map of the original swamp areas of the lower peninsula of Michigan. : 1907. Compiled from… (University of Michigan Library)
1925 · Rand McNally Official 1925 Auto Trails Map: Special Around Lake Michigan (The Chicago… (University of Chicago Library, Mapping Chicagoland · CC BY-NC 4.0, used by permission)
Historic Michilimackinac, the Straits of Mackinac area .... Michigan / design and… (University of Michigan Library)

Colton's Michigan (1874), 1874, covering the location of Mackinaw City Railroad Dock, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Colton's Michigan (1874), 1874, covering this location. Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Michigan History Center
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