| Depot And Elevator Area |
|---|
Highland Station owes its existence to construction of the Holly, Wayne and Monroe Railway (soon merged into the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway) through the township. Shortly after the line was completed in 1871, Almon Ruggles and Germain St. John platted a new village just west of the tracks. Originally called "Highland Centre," the name was changed to "Highland Station" when the Spring Mills Post Office moved there in 1873. This photo shows the depot looking southwest. Behind it is the Highland grain elevator, originally built by the firm of Palmer & Palmer in 1881. Two years later the elevator was bought by William Smith Seaver, who ran it until 1909 when he sold out to Charles Atkin. Atkin, in turn, sold the operator to Frank Keller in 1914. In 1919 Keller helped organize the Highland Producers Association; a farmers' cooperative which thereafter owned and operated the elevator until 1979.
