The Mansfield, Coldwater and Lake Michigan Railroad (MCW&LM) is a defunct railroad which operated in southern Michigan

Southern Michigan

Southern Michigan is a loosely defined geographic area of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. Southern Michigan may be referred to as a sub-region or component area to the larger geographic regions of Central Michigan, West Michigan, and Southeast Michigan.Southern Michigan is a...

 and Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 during the 1870s. By the time it went into foreclosure in the late 1870s it owned two non-contiguous track segments, each of which was leased by a different company.

Corporate history

The company formed on December 28, 1870 through the merger of the Ohio & Michigan Railway and the Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Michigan Railway, neither of which had yet built track. On January 1, 1874, the Grand Rapids & Indiana

Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad

The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad at its height provided passenger and freight railroad services between Cincinnati, Ohio and the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan, USA...

 leased the "Allegan Division" (Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

 holdings) of the line. On August 28, 1877, the company was sold at foreclosure: the Allegan & Southeastern bought the Allegan Division, while the Pennsylvania Railroad

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

, which had controlled the Ohio properties since 1873 through the Pennsylvania Company

Pennsylvania Company

The Pennsylvania Company was a major holding company, owning and operating much of the Lines West territory of the Pennsylvania Railroad, including the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, the PRR's main route to Chicago. It also owned but did not operate the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago...

, bought the Ohio holdings outright.

Michigan

In September 1871 the MCW&LM completed an 11.2 miles (18 km) line from Allegan

Allegan, Michigan

Allegan is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 4,838. It is the county seat of Allegan County. The city lies within Allegan Township, but is administratively autonomous....

 east to Montieth (south of Martin

Martin, Michigan

Martin is a village in Allegan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 435 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all land.-Demographics:...

), where it met the GR&I. This constituted the "Allegan Division" of the line. When the GR&I leased the line in 1874 it took complete control of all operations.

The comparatively short segment of the "Allegan Division" enjoyed an unusual history. The MCW&LM had already completed, but not opened, an 8 miles (12.9 km) extension east from Montieth; the Allegan & Southeastern did not alter the situation during its short (1877–1883) stewardship of the line. Under the Michigan & Ohio

Michigan and Ohio Railroad

The Michigan and Ohio Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in southern Michigan in the mid-1880s. Originally intended to forge a new line from Lake Erie to Lake Michigan, it came close to its goal, completing a line between Allegan and Dundee before financial embarrassment landed it in...

 (1883–1886), this line was extended another 113.7 miles (183 km) to Dundee

Dundee, Michigan

Dundee is a village in Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,522 at the 2000 census. The village is located within Dundee Township. Through a series of annexations and land transfers, the village has greatly increased in size over the past several years...

, but by 1937 this extension had been abandoned. In 1913 the Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee, the then current owner of the Allegan–Dundee line, sold the Allegan–Battle Creek

Battle Creek, Michigan

Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek Rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Calhoun county...

 section, which included the old MCW&LM line, to the Michigan & Chicago, an interurban

Interurban

An interurban, also called a radial railway in parts of Canada, is a type of electric passenger railroad; in short a hybrid between tram and train. Interurbans enjoyed widespread popularity in the first three decades of the twentieth century in North America. Until the early 1920s, most roads were...

, which electrified the line. The successor to the M&C, the Michigan United

Michigan United Railways

Michigan United Railways was an interurban which owned and leased numerous lines in the state of Michigan during the early twentieth century.- Corporate history :...

, abandoned the Allegan–Montieth section in 1928.

Ohio

At the same time the main part of the MCW&LM, under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), was constructing a 216 miles (347.6 km) line from Mansfield, Ohio

Mansfield, Ohio

Mansfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Richland County. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio in the western foothills of the Allegheny Plateau, approximately southwest of Cleveland and northeast of Columbus....

 (where it met the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago

Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway

The Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway was a major part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system, extending the PRR west from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania via Fort Wayne, Indiana to Chicago, Illinois...

) northwest toward Allegan. By 1874 a 49.7 miles (80 km) line from Toledo Junction (near Mansfield) via Tiffin

Tiffin, Ohio

Tiffin is a city in and the county seat of Seneca County, Ohio, United States. The population was 18,135 at the 2000 census. The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Tiffin as a Tree City USA....

 to Fostoria

Fostoria, Ohio

As of the census of 2000, there were 13,931 people, 5,565 households, and 3,628 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,917.6 people per square mile . There were 6,024 housing units at an average density of 829.2 per square mile...

 was complete. The prime contractor for this line was Joseph Fisk (1810–1874), who built over 1000 miles (1,609.3 km) of track in the Midwest

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

 during his long career. Although controlled by the PRR, MCW&LM trains operated this section under their own flag.

Although substantial portions of the northwestern extension were graded, most of the track was never laid. The PRR abandoned the idea in 1875 and instead focused on a route north from Tiffin into Toledo, Ohio

Toledo, Ohio

Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...

. To that end, in 1877 the PRR merged the Ohio portion of the MCW&LM with the Toledo, Tiffin & Eastern and the Toledo & Woodville into the Northwestern Ohio Railway, which the PRR in turn lease

Lease

A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...

d. The 79 miles (127.1 km) line linked the PRR's massive network to Toledo for the first time.