Detroit and Pontiac Railroad

Historical American railroad

Map

The Detroit and Pontiac Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in the state of Michigan during the mid-nineteenth century. It was the sixth railroad to receive a charter from Michigan, then a territory, and the second, after the Erie & Kalamazoo, to actually operate trains.

The first attempt to connect Detroit and Pontiac by railroad had come on July 31, 1830; when the Michigan Territorial Council granted a charter to the Pontiac and Detroit Railroad.[1][2] This was the first such charter granted both in Michigan and in the Northwest Territory region.[3] Nothing came of the Pontiac & Detroit, so in 1834 the state granted a new charter to the Detroit and Pontiac Railroad. After four years the D&P began operation over a modest 12-mile (19 km) line, spurred on by a $100,000 loan from the state. The railroad finally reached Pontiac in 1843, thirteen years after the state first granted a charter for that purpose.[4]

On April 21, 1855, the D&P was consolidated with the Oakland and Ottawa Rail Road to form the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway and ceased to exist as an independent company.[4] In 1878, the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway was reorganized as the Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway.

## Notes

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1. ^ Michigan (1874). Laws of the Territory of Michigan. W.S. George & Company.
2. ^ Farmer (1884), 893. Some accounts erroneously call this first company "Detroit & Pontiac." See, e.g. Burton (1922), 682.
3. ^ Farmer (1884), 893.
4. ^ a b Baxter, 528.

## References

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* Baxter, Albert (1891). History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Munsell & company.
* Burton, Clarence Monroe; William Stocking; Gordon K. Miller (1922). The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922. Detroit: S. J. Clarke.
* Farmer, Silas (1884). The History of Detroit and Michigan. S. Farmer & Co.