Jackson Train Station Up For National Historic Recognition

As someone born and raised in Jackson, the train station has always held some major significance. I even, like many of us who grew up in the area, got my senior pictures taken there in high school. However, as iconic as the train station is to Jackson residents, it actually has more historical significance than many of us first realized.

There is already so much history behind the 150-year-old Amtrak station and according to MLive it "has long been credited for its role in developing the city’s economy."

Now, though, MLive reports this Black History Month historians in Jackson want to add the iconic train station to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, run by the National Park Service.

Get our free mobile app

The Underground Railroad was pivotal in the anti-slavery movement and according to MLive, researcher and member of the Jackson County Historical Society, Linda Hass has spent years finding information on two former enslaved people who were able to escape by using Jackson train depot.

According to Hass, Adam Crosswhite, his family, and John White were able to utilize the Jackson train depot to get to Detroit and then on to Canada.

Derrick James, Amtrak Senior Manager told MLive that while the train station was added in 2002 to the National Register of Historic Places, if the designation as part of the Underground Railroad is approved it can further highlight the history behind the building as well as be a key addition the Underground Railroad's significance in Jackson.

As the events of the past year have proven, the fight for racial justice and equality is an ongoing one and the more we can look at crucial points in history like the Underground Railroad and know more about it, the better we can all come together to further understand how we can always do better.