By David Fleet
Editor
Ortonville— Kathleen Leece recalls walking to the Ortonville school at Cedar and Ball streets in the village. Her mother had to watch her cross South Street carefully in front of their house because the DUR train tracks ran right down South Street in front of their house, recalled Kathleen, now 104 years old and who was born Nov. 10, 1918 at home, 66 Cedar St., Ortonville.
“Walked home for lunch every day, one hour for lunch and back to school,” she said. “The only day I took my lunch to school was if there was a bad storm that day.”
Kathleen loved to take her lunch to school. No hot lunches were available.
“If we wanted to go anywhere, like Flint, the train went there,” she said.
The local centenarian plus four reflected on the Detroit United Railway which operated from 1901 until 1931 with a stop in Ortonville, near today the intersection of Mill and South streets.
The local railway helped build a thriving community and was key in connecting Ortonville with cities including Royal Oak, Rochester, Oxford, Ortonville, Goodrich, Atlas and Flint.
This summer, Ortonville will be celebrating its 175 birthday with a special gathering at September Fest this fall. Over the next six months, The Citizen newspaper will be recounting some of the history of Ortonville including some of the modes of transportation the DUR.
In about 1927, when Kathleen was just 9-years-old she needed an eye exam.
“My father worked at the Chevrolet factory in Flint,” she said. “There was a special (train) car that went to Flint. A lot of the fellows worked at the factory. It left at 4 a.m. and I had to get up to get up and go with my dad. My dad’s brother lived near the factory. I stayed at his house till my dad got out of work at noon on Saturday to see Dr. Orr on the 4th floor of the Flint P. Smith Building and then back home on the train.”
Kathleen’s reflection on her trip to Flint from Ortonville in the late 1920s is just one example of how growth was slowly arriving in the community.
“For Ortonville’s 175 years, various modes of transportation have brought people to Ortonville,” said Matt Jenkins, executive director, Ortonville DDA. “It has brought them here to visit the lakes, for commerce, events, and activities in our downtown and for some to make it their home. Horseback, horse-drawn, tractor, train and of course cars and trucks – all leading to Downtown.”
While the DUR was a boom to the local economy in many ways it was not however, without cost.
According to newspaper reports, on July 12, 1910 about a mile south of Ortonville a crowed train car loaded with Flint people on their way to Windsor collided with a work train. Several injuries were serious and at least 76 passengers sustained injuries.
The last train left Ortonville April 25, 1931 just about four years after Lewis Sevener made application with Chevrolet, Division of General Motors for a local franchise. In 1943, Linford Owen, on a three day pass from the Army purchased the franchise. In 1992, Owen Chevrolet, which had moved from their Mill Street building opened an M-15 location in 1979 was purchased by Larry Simms.
“Our Downtown is the visual and economic center of Ortonville and the surrounding townships,” said Jenkins. “The streets of our small-town help create its character and walkable mixed-use area which are designed at a pedestrian scale. So, it wouldn’t surprise me if, over the years, people have said…Welcome, we’re glad you made it, we hope you stay for a while.”