Pere Marquette RR Depot and Photo History of Its Restoration
Restoration Photos | Completed | Exterior Progress | Interior Progress

PERE MARQUETTE RAILROAD DEPOT
Historically Restored To Its Former Grand Appearance.

June 16, 2008.

Restoration work on the Pere Marquette Railroad Depot has been completed and an official ribbon cutting ceremony on this date official reopened the building once again as a valuable asset to the community.

The following photos were captured on this date showing the exterior and interior of the newly restored building, including photos of the opening day ceremony.

Below the opening day photos are historical images separated by "exterior" and "interior" showing the condition of the building prior to the project which are followed by photos of the restoration progress at various stages.


Pere Marquette Depot in its finished state,
including a recently added spire on the tower.

Growth of the newly planted grass is well under.
Flower beds and some shrubs are to be added in the future.

An impressive view looking south of the depot
with the Bay County government building as a backdrop.

Crowds begins to gather prior to opening ceremony at 3:00 o'clock.

View north with Law Enforcement Building in background.

South end of the depot where visitor a large room on the main level
will be used to great visitors.
The roofed are on the right is covers the east side entrance.

Full view of the buildings east side
and the new sidewalk that circles the building.

Close up of the east side entrance.

Preparations being made for the opening ceremony
to be held in front of main entrance.

A sizable crowd arrives in spite of threatening rain.

Another view of the crowd. Bay City Mayor
Charles Brunner to the right of man holding umbrella.

Ceremony underway, Charles Curtis, president
of Great Lakes Foundation is addressing the crown.

Close up of Mr. Curtiss with crowd in background.

State representative Jeff Mayes sharing remarks about
the efforts made by so many to turn the old train depot
into a beautiful building worthy of its heritage.

Mrs. Edwin Kitzman preparing to cut ribbon signalling the
official opening of the Pere Marquette Railroad Depot.

The finished room on the south end of building
for greating visitors. Beautifully done in white
and wine colored walls complementing the natural wood trimming.

View of the redone former ticket booth, which now be
used for handing out brochures promoting our area.

View looking north west towards the doorway
that lead to main entrance hallway and
to rooms at the north end of the building.

View sought west and an outside door.
The area is of sufficient size for providing short presentations to guests.

An interesting head on image of the booth
with a view of the outside from the inside window.

The main entrance hallway with stairway
on the right to the upper level.

Room at the north end of hallway which connects to other offices rooms.

View looking back (east) at end of hallway where previous photo was taken.

View from north end of hallway looking south towards main entrance.

Stairway off main entrance leading to second level.

Close up of stairway showing and its original woodwork after being refinished.

View from midway point of stairway towards upper landing area.

The large upper landing area leads to
a large room on the right and offices off a hallway on left.
Most of the offices on the upper level retain the original oak flooring.

A very large room at the south end of the
upper level has several smaller office rooms off of it.

View throught two office doors that are entered from the large south end room.

Hallway leading to offices towards the north end of the upper level.

View of office at north end of building.

View from same office except looking south west.

View of hallway looking toward southend of building.

View looking back at hallway from inside an east side office.

View heading towards stairway.

An interesting view of the veritical windows on east wall of stairway landing area.

View heading down stairway to main level.
RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY.

WELCOME.

Gary Labadie

PERE MARQUETTE DEPOT
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

Charles Curtiss

PRESENTATION.

Jeff Mayes, State Representative.

CLOSING REMARKS.

Gary Labadie.

RIBBON CUTTING.

Mrs. Edwin Kitzman

Great Lakes Center Foundation
Board of Directors.

Charles Curtiss, President
Al McFadyen, Vice President
Jerome Yantz, Assistant Vice President
Mitzi Dimitroff, Director
Gary Labadie, Director
Kathryn Pope
Secretary/Treasurer

PERE MARQUETTE DEPOT CONTRIBUTORS.

Great Lakes Center Foundation.
Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
Michigan Department of Transportatio TEA-21.
Michigan Magnet Fund.
Michigan State Historical Preservation Office.
The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation.
HUD Special Projects Fund.
S.C. Johnson.
The Rollin M. Gerstacker Fondation.
The Dow Chemical Company.
The Kantzler Foundation.
Bay Area Community Foundation.
The Noon Rotary Club of Bay City.
The Charles J. Strosacker Foundation.
The Russell H. and Maxine E. Smith Charitable Foundation.
The Ostheider Fund.
The Bay City Times.
Alden Office Interiors, Inc.
Allied Office Interiors, Inc.
GM Powertrain Employees Fund.
Wal-Mart Foundation.
Bay Area Community Foundation Trustees.
Great Lakes Center Foundation Directors.
and Many Other Donors and Volunteers.

Restoration Photos | Completed | Exterior Progress | Interior Progress

PRECONDITION OF BUILDING'S EXTERIOR.


View north of west side of building.


2007 - Main entrance on west side of depot.

2007 - View of tower area above main entrance.
Missing top portion will be built during restoration.

2007 - Ticket windows on west side of building.

2007 - View north of east side of building.

RESTORATION PROGRESS ON BUILDING'S EXTERIOR.


June 7, 2007: Work along east side of depot.


June 7, 2007: East side of depot.

June 31, 2007: View south west of progress made on east side entrance of depot.

July 12, 2007: Footings for entrance on east size of depot towards south end of building.

July 12, 2007: View south east of entrance footing.

July 31, 2007: View of progress made to footing for east side entrance at south end of building.

July 31, 2007: Work on the new tower now extends above top of depot's roof.

July 31, 2007: Close up of the tower's construction so far.

July 31, 2007: View of the new tower construction from the south west end of building.

July 31, 2007: Tower construction as seen from east side of depot.

July 31, 2007: A final view of the tower construction from north end of depot captures the Bay County Building in background. This view would when the depot restoration is complete would make a nice postcard image.

September 15, 2007: View northwest of crane setting roof of tower in place.

September 15, 2007: Close up of the tower's ornate brick work and column features.

September 15, 2007: Worker installs flag.
Another excellent view of the tower's attractive features.

September 15, 2007: Overall view from the southeast side
of building with tower in place.

September 15, 2007: View southwest from the tower.
Wirt Library shown on left side of column, City Hall in the distance
and to the right is the Shearer Block.

Sep. 29, 2007 - Work is has begun on tiling the main roof and roughing in of
the lower roofing that surrounds much of the building.
Shown the picture is Alan Flood, a local historian who happened to stop by.

Sep. 29, 2007 - Close up view of tile that has been on the north west section of the roof.

Sep. 29, 2007 - View of the west side on south end of building showing the
roughing in of the lower roof. Protruding section of building is the ticket office.

Sep. 29, 2007 - View looking north of the west side of the building.

Sep. 29, 2007 - Close up of scroll of the iron support brackets used for the lower roof.

Sep. 29, 2007 - View north along the east side of the building.
The overhang roof entrance was the original main entrance to the depot.
In distance work is being done on sewer system.

Sep. 29, 2007 - Another view looking south of the entrance.

Sep. 29, 2007 - View looking south along the east side of the building
with Bay County Government building in background.

Sep. 29, 2007 - View looking north end of the building's west side.
Bay County Government building in the distance.

Oct. 22, 2007 - View of east side of building looking north.

Oct. 22, 2007 - 2007 - View of west side of building looking north.

Oct. 22, 2007 - View of west side looking north.
Notice one new window is installed.

Oct. 22, 2007 - View of west side looking south.
Notice tile roof work has begun.

Oct. 22, 2007 - View of south end of building looking east.
Close of work being done on sub-roof.

Nov. 1, 2007 - View of south end of builing showing progress that been made
in tiling roof. Most of the west side of roof has been done.

Nov. 1, 2007 - This view of the tiles roof and tower from the west side
of the building includes a view of the new windows being installed.

Dec. 20, 2007 - Workers finishing tiling of roof on the east side entrance near the south end of building.

Dec. 20, 2007 - View of tower and some of the new windows installed.

Dec. 20, 2007 - Close up of the tower.

May 4, 2008 - Paving of roads and sidewalks are well underway
as can be seen in this view of the front side of the depot.

May 4, 2008 - Closer look at curve of road that will
circle back to entrance off Adams street.

May 4, 2008 - Close up view of main payment work
along front of building and sidewalks in place.

May 4, 2008 - View of east side of building

May 4, 2008 - Looking south at east entrance of building. County building to left.
Restoration Photos | Completed | Exterior Progress | Interior Progress

PRECONDITION OF BUILDING'S INTERIOR.


Entrance doorway from inside depot.


Office.

Bottom of stairway.
C & 0 arrow points Chesapeak & Ohio R.R. office.

Stairway - looking back toward bottom.

Ceiling at top of stairway.

Second floor looking back at stairway.

View of second floor.

View of second floor and ceiling.

Close up of ceiling woodwork.

RESTORATION PROGRESS ON BUILDING'S INTERIOR.


June 13, 2007: Working conditions inside one of the rooms.


June 13, 2007: Ceilings and walls stripped exposing old rafters and wiring.

July 12, 2007: Working continues to be done to shore up foundation of building.

July 12, 2007: New lumber framing supports installed to shore up walls and flooring.

July 12, 2007: Some of the more tedious work involves removal of layers of paint
from old wood work being preserved as a feature
of the restored inside of the depot.

July 12, 2007: Work on ceilings is still in the roughing in stage.

September 25, 2007

September 25, 2007

Dec. 20, 2007: With winter setting in work is being focused
on the inside of the building. Here we get a view through a doorway
of the main main floor area on the south end of the building.

Dec. 20, 2007: The walls have been stripped and ready new dry wall.
The girder supports for the upper level will be removed.
To the right is the old ticket section of the room.

Dec. 20, 2007: Drywall has been hung on a portion of the mail level.

Dec. 20, 2007: View of the stairway from the upper level showing
new drywall hung and paint removed from original wood rails.

Dec. 20, 2007: Stairs leading down to main level, with wood now stripped of its old paint.

Feb, 1, 2008: First of 16 photos taken this date showing work being done inside the building. -- This is the room at the south end of the building where the second floor was removed to create a large and spacious atmosphere for visitors. The structure the workers are on is the ticket booth.

Feb, 1, 2008: Same room looking at the south wall. The bubbles in this and many other pictures appears in many of the pictures as a result of the flash reflexing off particals of drywall floating in the air. But, it could spirits from the past keeping an eye on what's being done to their historic building?

Feb, 1, 2008: Same room looking at the north each corner and the original brick walls that will be covered with drywall.

Feb, 1, 2008: Main door on west side of building from the hallway that runs along the west wall.

Feb, 1, 2008: Heading upstairs looking back at the main entrance door.

Feb, 1, 2008: View down the stairway from the second floor.

Feb, 1, 2008: Looking west at the second floor landing area next to the stairway.

Feb, 1, 2008: View of the west wall of the large room at the south end of the second level.

Feb, 1, 2008: Same room looking at the north wall and doorways connecting to two additional rooms.

Feb, 1, 2008: Looking north down the upstairs hallway.

Feb, 1, 2008: Inside one of the rooms off the east of the hallway. View of the room's west wall, and with opened doorway providing partial view of a room across the hall.

Feb, 1, 2008: Close of view of the windows inside a room on the west side of the hall. Notice the original metal chain that aids in the opening of the window. Through the pane can be seen the Laporte building on Washington and Fifth aveneus.

Feb, 1, 2008: Windows in the room at the north. The Law Enforcement building In the right paine is the Law Enforcement building across Third Street.

Feb, 1, 2008: Same room, except the east wall. The First Presbyterian Church on Center Avenue is show in right upper pane.

Feb, 1, 2008: Back on the main level showing a ladder used by workers access the basement.

Feb, 1, 2008: This ghostly image was created by the photographer who accidentially captured a head shot of himself. Maybe PMRR depot will become a part of Bay City's legendary ghost tours?

May 4, 2008: Scene taken through window of south end room.

May 4, 2008: Scene taken through window of finshed banister of steps leading upstairs.

May 15, 2008: Lower level room at southend of building.
East side entrance door.

May 15, 2008: Spacious ceiling with large decorative columns.

May 15, 2008: Decorative hanging chandelier lights.

May 15, 2008: View down hallway toward north end of building.

May 15, 2008: Close up of ceiling and duckwork of heating/cooling system.

May 15, 2008: Stairway landing to hallway and rooms on second level.

May 15, 2008: View of hallway.
Restoration Photos | Completed | Exterior Progress | Interior Progress

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