The Big Four at Granger: the county's other New York Central line

1882–1993 · COUNTY GEOGRAPHY

One more Central line crossed the county's northeast corner without ever being South Bend's: The Elkhart, Niles & Lake Michigan Railroad built from Niles south to Granger in 1882, and the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan extended the line north from Granger to Benton Harbor in November of that year. The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis — the Big Four — bought the line in 1890, and it merged into the New York Central in 1930 as that system's Benton Harbor route. Granger is St. Joseph County ground, not the city, and this entry is printed as county geography, the way the record's scope rule requires: no Big Four station in South Bend is claimed, because none is documented. The City of Niles' own history tour dates the closing of the last part of the line — in its phrasing, "the piece between Niles and South Bend" — to 1993, and the grade is now the Indiana-Michigan River Valley Trail. The line's passing closes the county's steam-road map: with it, every railroad that ever reached into St. Joseph County has its entry in this section or its cross-reference.

Sources:

1. MichiganRailroads.com's timeline — the Elkhart, Niles & Lake Michigan's construction from Niles to Granger in 1882, the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan's extension to Benton Harbor in November 1882, the Big Four's 1890 purchase, and the 1930 New York Central merger.
2. City of Niles history tour — the closing of the last part of the Benton Harbor line, "the piece between Niles and South Bend," in 1993, and the grade's present use as the Indiana-Michigan River Valley Trail.