Kalamazoo & South Haven Railroad
“The Kal-Haven Line”
By 1869, Kalamazoo boasted two railroads. The city stood at the important crossing point of lines connecting Detroit and Chicago and a feeder running from Grand Rapids, the second largest city in the state.
So far, though, the city had not spawned any home-grown rail lines. The gap was quickly filled in 1869 with the construction of the Kalamazoo & South Haven.
Goliah was the first engine on the K&SH line. Appleyard Collection at the Historical Association of South Haven
The idea of a line running to South Haven’s docks was older than the venerable Michigan Central. On March 28, 1836, the Territorial Council had chartered the Kalamazoo & Lake Michigan Railroad Company and empowered it to build a line “from the mouth of the South Black River in the County of VanBuren, to the seat of Kalamazoo County…”
The 1837 financial bust wiped out the project and the charter lapsed.
New life for the idea came in April, 1869, with the filing of articles of incorporation for the Kalamazoo & South Haven. Trains were running by December.
Kalamazoo & South Haven locomotive at the Alamo Depot. Postcard photo courtesy, Dick Godfrey
The line was to be built largely through local subsidies. Kalamazoo County voted public aid to the tune of $5,500 a mile. Public money from Van Buren and Kalamazoo counties totaled $200,000, but a snag developed.
Bonds issued to finance the line were declared illegal by the Michigan Supreme Court after an argument over the legality of public funding of a private enterprise. The little railroad turned to the Michigan Central and got backing for $640,000 in first mortgage bonds. Stock sales and a $75,000 second mortgage provided enough to finish the line and to buy equipment.
By 1870, the Michigan Central – just as hungry as the Lakeshore for those lifegiving feeder lines – leased the Kalamazoo & South Haven.
(In 1916, the Kalamazoo and South Haven Railroad Company merged with the Michigan Central Railroad (part of the New York Central Railroad). 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.)
From Next Stop Kalamazoo! A History of Railroading in Kalamazoo County
Written by David C. Hager. Published by the Kalamazoo Public Museum, 1976
Edited for context by Kalamazoo Public Library staff, February 2025