Two railways came together here. The West Bloomfield Trail follows the path of the Grand Trunk Railroad, built through the region in the 1880s. If you were standing here in 1900, you also would see a light rail trolley line that ran along Orchard Lake Road and turned to run beside this part of the Grand Trunk line. Built in 1899, it was one of many trolley systems in southeast Michigan that were bought by the Detroit United Railway (DUR) in 1901 to carry people and freight within Detroit and between surrounding towns.
Wayside Sign – Remembering Historic Railways on the West Bloomfield Trail
Object ID: 2013-070-014
Date: 2013
Collection: Orchard Lake, TransportationSubjects: Wayside Sign
Wayside Sign – The Orchard Lake Museum and the Treasures of Local History
Object ID: 2013-070-010
Date: 2013
Collection: Orchard LakeSubjects: Wayside Sign
The Orchard Lake Museum has been an intersection where paths cross and people meet. The first building here was a small tavern named the Orchard Lake House, built in 1857 for stagecoach travelers. Various owners rebuilt and enlarged the site, later named the Orchard Lake Hotel, to entertain the growing resort community on the lakes, especially city folks arriving on nearby trolley cars in the early 1900s. In 1939 the building was mostly torn down and replaced by the smaller Orchard Lake Village Hall, now occupied by the museum and the Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society.
Wayside Sign – Waiting Room and “The Wye” at the Michigan Military Academy
Object ID: 2013-070-008
Date: 2013
Collection: Michigan Military Academy, Orchard Lake, TransportationSubjects: MMA, Wayside Sign
To change directions, trolleys had to turn around. At this location, at the back of what had been the parade grounds of the Michigan Military Academy, the Detroit United Railway (DUR) built a “wye.” This Y-shaped track allowed trolley cars to turn to go in the opposite direction along the trolley track that paralleled the Grand Trunk Railroad track. Nestled in the undergrowth here, barely visible, is a trace of the “wye,” a concrete basin where maintenance workers climbed under the trolleys for inspections and repairs. Near the “wye” was a DUR waiting room to shelter patrons.