Railroad: Russell Street, St. Aubin Avenue and Detroit and Milwaukee Junction Railway Company

Built → Russell Street St. Aubin Avenue & Detroit & Milwaukee Junction Railway → Detroit City Railway

Built: 1874 - Line opened.

Operated for 2 years.

Sold: 1876 - to Detroit City Railway

Was originally the St. Aubin Avenue Street Railway

Reference: [MRRC]. Also known as the Russell Street Railway.

Notes

At three o'clock yesterday afternoon a well-filled street car containing the officers and stockholders of the new Russell Street Railway, representatives of the city press and others, started from the corner of Woodward and Jefferson avenues for the purpose of taking a trip over the line. At the corner of Russell and Gratiot avenue a stop was made to take on a few more of the invited guests, after which the car sped onward towards its destination.

The views along the line of the road, which runs through the heart of the Polish settlement, are very encouraging for the prosperity of that portion of the city. New residences, brick stores, shops, factories, churches, schools, etc., line the streets and their immediate vicinity, while hundreds of cottages erected by the laboring classes meet the eye in every direction.

The new road passes the Gratiot avenue police station, No. 6 engine house, the House of Correction, Brockway's mission chapel and school, the Campbell school and other buildings of importance, and signs of improvement in the extreme northern portion of the city are noticeable.

The track crosses the junction of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, including the Monroe and Toledo branch, passes through Ferry street into St. Aubin avenue, and thence to the Detroit & Milwaukee Junction, a distance of about four and a half miles from the Jefferson avenue terminus.

Passengers can make connections with the Detroit & Bay City, Grand Trunk and their branch roads. Comfortable hotels have recently been erected at this point, and these, together with the proposed waiting room of the D&M railroad, when completed, will make this junction as convenient a stopping place as any other along the line of the road.

The cars of the new road are tidy and comfortable, and good horses have been purchased. It is proposed to start a car from the Jefferson avenue terminus every hour during the day and evening, and more will be placed on the road as soon as the traffic will warrant it.

The track crosses many of the principal streets which lead to Woodward avenue, making the cars easy of access from that direction. In fact, it is already contemplated to directly connect Woodward avenue with the new road by means of a branch.

[DFP-1874-1218]

Time Line

1874. Line opens from Jefferson to Milwaukee Junction. [DFP-1874-1218]

1876. August. The Russell Street, St. Aubin Avenue & Detroit & Milwaukee Junction railway company is sold at public auction by Jared A. Sexton, Sheriff of Wayne County. [DFP-1876-0825]

1876. September. The Russell Street and Detroit & Milwaukee Junction railroad has been sold under execution to Sidney D. Miller as a representative of the Detroit City Railway Company. The amount of the execution was $4,500. [DFP-1876-0926]