Battle Creek station (Michigan Central Railroad)

Battle Creek
Battle Creek
	The old Michigan Central Depot in Battle Creek, Michigan
General information
Location	44 McCamly Street N., Battle Creek, Calhoun County, Michigan 49017
Former services
	Penn Central Railway Station
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	Invalid designation
	Michigan State Historic Site
Location	44 McCamly Street N.; Battle Creek, Michigan
Coordinates	42°19′16″N 85°10′53″W / 42.32111°N 85.18139°W
Built	1888
Architect	Rogers and MacFarlane
Architectural style	Richardsonian Romanesque
NRHP reference No.	71000384
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	April 16, 1971
Designated MSHS	November 6, 1970

Battle Creek station, listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Penn Central Railway Station, is a disused train station in Battle Creek, Michigan. It opened on July 27, 1888. Rogers and MacFarlane of Detroit designed the depot, one of several Richardsonian Romanesque-style stations between Detroit and Chicago in the late nineteenth century. 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.

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.

The station served New York Central trains on the Chicago - Detroit route, such as the Chicago Mercury and the Twilight Limited and trains on the Chicago - Detroit - New York (via southwestern Ontario) itinerary, such as the Wolverine.^[2]

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.^[3] Clara's on the River was a sister restaurant to the now closed Clara's Lansing Station, located in the Union Depot (Lansing, Michigan).