Product Details
| Company |
Ionia and Lansing Railroad Company
|
| Certificate Type |
Construction Bond
|
| Date Issued |
April 8, 1869 |
| Canceled |
Yes
|
| Printer |
Calvert Litho Co.
|
| Signatures |
Hand signed
|
|
Approximate Size
|
17" (w) by 19" (h)
|
Product Images
|
Show the exact certificate you will receive |
|
Authentic
|
Yes
|
| Additional Details |
Signed by James F. Joy
|
Historical Context
The Ionia and Lansing Rail Road operated in the state of Michigan in the 1860's and 1870's. The company incorporated on November 13, 1865, with investors hailing primarily from Lansing, Ionia and Portland. The original charter called for a 34-mile line from Ionia to Lansing. On January 13, 1869 this was amended with a much grander vision - a 125-mile line from Lansing to the mouth of the Pentwater River at Pentwater, on the shores of Lake Michigan.
In late 1869 the I&L opened a line between Lansing and Ionia; the first trains ran in December. In September 1870, the line extended further north and west past Belding to Greenville. That year the road was bought out by James F. Joy and other Detroit investors who already controlled the Detroit, Howell & Lansing Railroad. On March 16, 1871 the two companies consolidated to form the Detroit, Lansing & Lake Michigan.
The I&L's finances appear to have been rocky throughout its short history. As the author of a study on the Pere Marquette Railway noted:
"The Ionia and Lansing Railroad had difficulty in getting sufficient money to finish its construction and its credit was so bad that it received $770,000 of cash out of a bond issue with a par value of $1,820,000. Later on, in order to complete the line, it had to take on a second mortgage on its property from Lansing to Greenville."
Even as late as 1900, when the Pere Marquette consolidated the I&L's successor, the Detroit, Grand Rapids & Western, it assumed some of the old debt load.
Very little of the I&L's original Lansing–Greenville line exists today. In 1942 the Pere Marquette abandoned the Warden–Kidd segment; between 1972 and 1986 the C&O, successor to the Pere Marquette, abandoned the Warden–Eagle segment, leaving only the Kidd–Greenville and Grand Ledge–Lansing segments.
Related Collections
James F. Joy
James Frederick Joy (December 2, 1810 – September 24, 1896) was an American railroad magnate and politician in Detroit, Michigan.
He was born in Durham, New Hampshire, the son of James Joy (1778–1857) of Groton, Massachusetts and Sarah Gee Pickering (1781–1858), daughter of John Pickering.
Educated in Durham, New Hampshire, he entered Dartmouth College, graduating in 1833. From Dartmouth he entered Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1836. That year he moved to Detroit and formed a law firm with George F. Porter.
In 1846 he entered the railroad business as the lawyer and general counsel to the Michigan Central Railroad. He was subsequently connected with the Illinois Central Railroad. Joy organized the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, and was for many years its president. Joy was for several years president of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway.
In 1872 he was president and a director of the Michigan Central Railroad, drawing a salary of $8,000 per year. He was at the same time president and a director of the Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore Railroad, and a director of the Detroit, Hillsdale and Indiana Railroad. In 1873 he became president and a director of the Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad, taking over from H.H. Smith. He became president and treasurer of the Detroit Union Railway Depot and Station company at Detroit, Michigan. His network of railroads was known as "The Joy System."
Joy was intimately involved with politics from his early career. A member of the Whig Party and subsequently a Republican, for a time he had also been a member of the Free Soil Party. He was a close friend, confidant and supporter of Abraham Lincoln. At the 1880 Republican National Convention, he gave a speech nominating James G. Blaine for president.
He was a representative in the Michigan Legislature in 1861 and was later elected a Regent of the University of Michigan, serving from 1882 to 1886, when he resigned the office.
He died at his home in Detroit on September 24, 1896.
