Battle Creek, MI (BTL)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$1,483,254

Station Ridership

FY 2011

50,732

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The Battle Creek Intermodal Facility was opened in 1982 as a replacement for two historic stations, the Grand Trunk Railroad and Michigan Central Railway depots and a consolidation of railroad routes. Both of the older stations are on the National Register of Historic Places. The Grand Trunk station was added to the Register in 1980 and houses the offices of a community action agency, while the Michigan Central station in was added to the Register 1971 and is now the home of a popular local restaurant.

In 1981, a railroad consolidation project was undertaken to eliminate a long-term problem with train and automobile congestion in downtown Battle Creek, eliminating the Michigan Central line and moving all railroad traffic was moved to the Grand Trunk tracks on the south side of downtown. This required that a new Amtrak station be constructed along the south tracks, as the tracks on the north were removed. The city bought the previous Greyhound/Indian Trails terminal to help consolidate train and local city transit at one station. The project helped to spark redevelopment of the downtown area, including a new hotel, convention arena, water park, the Kellogg Company’s world headquarters, the Kellogg Foundation headquarters and a new up-scale restaurant, not to mention redevelopment of the downtown shopping district. Total funding amounted to $2,127,000, including $1,701,600 from the Federal Transportation Administration and a $425,000 state match. The city donated the land required for the project.

The exterior of the 1982 station retains the lines of a traditional station, but there is little traditional about the use of brick and glass. At night, eaves, hipped roof line, and columns are lit by neon and fluorescent lights in an artful display. The interior is designed for durability, with the décor of the waiting room being steel plating and concrete, with curving seating arrangements and a semi-circular double ticketing window installation.

As part of the $40 million awarded in federal stimulus funding in early 2010 for development of the high-speed rail corridor linking Detroit and Chicago, Battle Creek’s intermodal station will be renovated. The proposal is to update the existing interior public spaces of the station to provide upgraded finishes and a modern feel, as well as renovating the back-of-station areas to provide a more functional layout with numerous mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and electronic improvements, to include compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The city of Battle Creek lies at the confluence of the Kalamazoo River and Battle Creek—named for a confrontation between a government surveyor and Native Americans in 1823. Land speculator Sands McCamly arrived there in 1831 and encouraged other families, including many Quakers from New York State. By the 1840s the village, then known as Milton, was thriving upon milling wood, grain, and flour for area farmers. When incorporating as a town in 1859, the name was changed to Battle Creek.

Local industries found national markets when the railroads arrived, and by the end of the 19th century the city was home to companies such as the Nichols & Shepard and Advance threshing machine companies, Union Steam Pump and American Marsh Pump and V.C. Squier (supplier of strings to violinists world-wide).
In 1855, Seventh-Day Adventists Ellen White and James Elder White came to Battle Creek. Ellen White’s ideas about diet and health proved revolutionary and were the basis for the successful practice of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the director of the world-renowned Battle Creek Sanitarium. For 65 years, this institution provided innovative health care. While director, Dr. Kellogg invented breakfast cereal as part of his lighter, vegetarian dietary program for his patients.

In 1891, C.W. Post came to the sanitarium as a patient and became fascinated by the possibilities of new health foods, including a grain-based coffee substitute, later marketed as Postum and Grape Nuts Cereal. Later, Dr. Kellogg’s younger brother, W.K. Kellogg took his brother’s pioneering work and in 1906 founded the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, building a brand name still recognizable today as well as an empire based on breakfast cereal. And thus, Battle Creek is known as “Cereal City.”

Battle Creek’s nearby Army training installation, Fort Custer, opened in 1917, sent many soldiers to both world wars. Returning G.I.s were sent to Battle Creek’s Percy Jones Army Hospital for rehabilitation—the largest Army medical installation by the end of World War II. The hospital made a lasting impact upon the city: Battle Creek became the first city to install wheelchair ramps in its sidewalks to accommodate the Percy Jones patients when they went downtown.

The Blue Water service is financed primarily through funds made available by the Michigan State Department of Transportation. Amtrak provides both ticketing and help with baggage services at the Battle Creek station, which is served by eight daily trains.