Brownell and Hopkins

Ghost Stations on the Kal-Haven Line

Incorporated in April 1869, the Kalamazoo & South Haven Railroad Company (K&SH) quickly began constructing a forty-mile stretch of track that would connect Kalamazoo with the Lake Michigan shoreline and the village of South Haven. The K&SH line was completed in 1870 and leased to the Michigan Central, which ultimately merged with the Kalamazoo & South Haven Company in 1916. Passenger trains traveled the route until 1937, but freight service continued until the early 1970s before the line was finally abandoned. The old railroad bed has since been transformed into the Kal-Haven State Park Trail.

Kalamazoo & South Haven Line

The Kalamazoo & South Haven Railroad followed a northwesterly route out of Kalamazoo toward the village of Alamo before passing through well-known places like Gobles, Bloomingdale, and Grand Junction on the way to South Haven. But the train made a couple of additional stops in Kalamazoo County before it reached Alamo, places that have long since been forgotten. These were the rail stops once known as Brownell (or Brownell’s Station) and Hopkins (or Hopkins Station).

“On three hours’ notice the property holders of Grand Prairie and vicinity, to the number of sixty, met at Brownell’s Station to take into consideration the protection of their property from fire.”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 27 October 1871

Brownell’s Station

Four miles northwest of Kalamazoo, the train approached the North 12th Street crossing (now North Drake Road). This was known then as Brownell’s Station, or simply Brownell. According to the 1873 atlas, a small depot stood on the east side of North 12th Street along the south side of the tracks on property belonging to David W. and Magdalen Brownell in section 6 of Kalamazoo Township. Newspaper listings document activity at Brownell’s Station as early as May 1871, soon after the railroad line was opened. Residents on the Grand Prairie road and surrounding area found Brownell’s Station to be of great convenience. The station was clearly marked on the 1916 topographical map, and remained known until at least 1939.

“—A car loaded with logs ran off the track on the South Haven road near Brownell’s yesterday and ditched several cars. The passengers were loaded into box cars and brought in.”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 9 September 1881

Hopkins Station

After leaving Brownell’s Station, the K&SH line continued in a west-northwesterly direction for another mile or so before curving sharply northward toward Alamo. Soon after the curve came another stopping point where the tracks crossed West ‘G’ Avenue, west of North 10th Street, on property belonging to Laban and Susan L. Hopkins. This was known as Hopkins Station, or simply Hopkins, although not to be confused with the village by the same name in central Allegan County.

Like Brownell, Hopkins Station was established during the early 1870s, although little else is known about it. According to the 1873 Kalamazoo County map, a small depot (pictured here) was probably located along the west side of the tracks on the north side of West ‘G’ Avenue. It’s possible that the two rail stops may have later been combined into one, most likely Brownell, although Hopkins Station remained a familiar name on the land for quite some time.

“It is stated that the stations of Brownell and Hopkins on the South Haven road are to be consolidated into a station located midway between them.”

— Kalamazoo Gazette, 13 May 1879

“Twenty car-loads of apples, including upwards of 3,000 barrels, have been shipped from Hopkins station on the Kalamazoo & South Haven railroad so far this season.”

— Kalamazoo Daily Telegraph, 17 November 1886

Unlike the stations in larger villages along the route, trains only stopped at Brownell and Hopkins if signaled to do so. Both, however, served as convenient passenger boarding stations for area residents and local farmers who loaded fresh fruit and other produce bound for markets in Kalamazoo and South Haven.

Today, nothing exists of those once familiar places on the land, except for notations on scarce maps, published railroad timetables, and the few precious stories told by those who recall those places.

Written by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, July 2023.