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Ypsilanti was fortunate to be on the path of the Michigan Central Railroad, which played a large part in the growth of the town. In Episode 4 of Ypsi Stories, we saw evolving ideas about how to move people and commerce across the United States and its territories. The country at first could not agree on the financing of national transportation, with some states unwilling to underwrite projects that only involved other states.
Then came the railroad. A railroad could be connected with other state railroads relatively quickly and effectively. A state such as Michigan could finance its part of a system, and that part could be as large or as small as it was willing to pay for. The benefit for everyone in the state was readily apparent, a subject we will explore with historian Jerome Drummond.
Jerome Drummond
Jerome Drummond is a former clerk from the Michigan Avenue library, and a member of the Ypsilanti Historical Society and the Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County. He majored in history in college, earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan – Flint, has taught introductory genealogy classes at the library, and is writing a biography of Charles Rich Pattison.
Click to scroll through images of the early railroad in Ypsilanti.