Penn Central Railway Station

The Michigan Central Railroad Depot (listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Penn Central Railway Station) opened on July 27, 1888, in Battle Creek, MI. Rogers and MacFarlane of Detroit designed the depot, one of several Richardsonian Romanesque-style stations between Detroit and Chicago in the late nineteenth century. Thomas Edison as well as Presidents William Howard Taft and Gerald Ford visited here. The depot was acquired by the New York Central Railroad in 1918, Penn Central in 1968 and Amtrak in 1970. The depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Masonry of Lake Superior red sandstone, noted for its distinctive patterns, provides one of the most striking aspects of the Depot’s exterior. Another prominent feature of the Depot is its clock tower. In 1982, Amtrak moved operations to a newer facility located five blocks to the south on the Grand Trunk Western Railroad line, as part of a line consolidation that saw Conrail's ex-New York Central line through downtown closed and removed. The current Amtrak station services the Detroit to Chicago, and the Port Huron, MI to Chicago routes. The Michigan Central Depot sat empty for seven years. In 1989 restaurateurs Peter Jubeck and Ross Simpson purchased the depot and transformed it into a restaurant named Clara’s on the River which opened June 8, 1992. Clara's on the River is a sister restaurant to Clara's Lansing Station, located in the Union Depot (Lansing, Michigan).