West view of the St. Johns depot built after the 1920 tornado. Note the watchman's tower above
the engine switching a load of coal on north Clinton ave. This depot is still in place today. The
elevators that were on this site were all moved across the tracks from the depot.
_________________
In later years when the railroad was known as Grand Trunk Western, the GT emplyees had nicknames for the
different divisions on the railroad. The Grand Trunk line from Ashley over to Muskegon was called "The Turkey Trail."
The main line from Detroit, through St. Johns and on to Grand Haven was called the "Leaky Roof." Someone said it
goes back to the days of wooden passenger cars when, after a heavy rain, the lamp globes in the cars had to be
taken down and emptied of water that had dripped through the leaky roofs.
Another name I found in use in 1868 on the railroad through St. Johns was "Tri - Weekly Train." I did not find any such
train in the early time schedules of the D. & M. This name came from some passengers sitting in a station somewhere
west of St. Johns. One of the passengers was growing impatient with the delay and asked of another one:
"What do they call this train?"
"Tri - weekly train," answered another.
"Why do they give it that name?", asked the first.
"Because it comes out west in the first of the week and takes the remainder of the week trying to get back," said a
voice in a remote corner of the car.
______________________
Thomas Bromley    Station Agent 1867 to 1911
Thomas Bromley was born at Bildiston, County of Suffolk, England, March 12, 1839, the son of Joseph and Maria
Bromley. Joseph Bromley died in 1841 and his widow moved to America with her children, living in New York City,
Boonville, N.Y., Owosso, Niagara Falls and Windsor. Her sons Joseph, Harry and Thomas all became telegraph
operators and engaged in the railroad business. Thomas located at Gaines, and his brother, Joseph W. Bromley,
came to St. Johns as agent in 1864. In May, 1867, J.W. Bromley was promoted and moved to Grand Haven. Thomas
Bromley, who was now at Coopersville, took his place here at St. Johns and served the post until his retirement in
1911. The newspapers of St. Johns always commented on the "able and efficient, and courteous" railroad agents at
St. Johns.
In June, 1869, The Clinton Independent
reported:
"The Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad Co. have
commenced the erection of a new residence
directly south of the track on the west side of
Clinton ave., for the use of their agent in the
village. The building is to be 18 by 24 feet,
one story and half high with a wing 13 by 24
feet."
In the view on the left we can see the
Bromley house on the northwest corner of
Clinton ave. and Railroad street. This is from
the 1881 view on page-3.
On April 15, 1880 The Clinton Independent
again writes:
"The residence of Thomas Bromley on the
avenue between the railroad and Railroad
street, has been made exceedingly attractive by the addition of a wing on the south side with a porch fronting the east."
In those days the station agent usually lived above the depot on the second floor. As the 1869 depot was a single
story, the railroad built a house on railroad property for Bromley.
________________________________
St. Johns Last Station Agent
Was Agent When Tornado Struck
Clinton County Republican News
May 7,1959

After 44 years as a Grand Trunk Western telegrapher,
Harry W. Buck, 310 E. Baldwin St., St. Johns, will become
a radio operator for the St. Johns police department.
Buck was an interested spectator last Thursday when
the last Grand Trunk Western daytime passenger train
passed through St. Johns. The event brought back
memories spanning two decades of work, punctuated by
the clacking of telegraph sounder as they brought in
train orders and telegrams for St. Johns residents.
In the course of receiving telegrams, Buck recalled that
for three wars, World War I, World War II and the Korean
War, he has transcribed the messages, many of them to
boys he was personally acquainted with , have been filed away with the mementos of his office.
One of the happier assignments was receiving a message that a St. Johns airman, Robert Harper, was safe after a
crash.
There was probably no busier day than the Sunday afternoon in 1920 when a tornado that had ripped through eight
states, dipped into St. Johns to cause extensive damage. The tornado was memorable because it smashed the depot
and only because his hours had been shifted did Buck escape sure death. Buck was enjoying his first Sunday off
when the tornado struck about 5 pm. The Grand Trunk Depot, which was then located where the freight shed is now
and just painted, was completely wrecked.
Several box cars were tipped over and damage was extensive not only in the railroad yards but throughout St. Johns
and Clinton county. Buck was at home, unaware of the damage, when he was called to the depot. He managed to
rescue a telegraph key from the wreckage. Because wires were down he was taken by pumpcar to Shepardsville, six
miles east, where he broke into the depot to message railroad headquarters of the extent of the storm damage in St.
Johns.
Buck comes from a railroad family. His father, Elmer Buck, was a Grand Trunk crossing watchman and his brother,
Arvine Buck, is a towerman for Grand Trunk in Grand Rapids.
Harry taught his son, Robert, how to operate a telegraph key and some of his pupils were Bill Parish, now a New York
Central train dispatcher at Grand Central Station, New York City, and George Sturgis, station agent at Ovid.
Buck started with the railroad when he was 16 as a messenger boy and the telegraph messages that echoed through
the office.....there were four main wires then.....fascinated the young man so much that he taught himself the
continental code.
He worked for a few months in Detroit and then was sent to St. Johns where he has been ever since.
Buck recalls that when he started at the St. Johns depot, there was a crew of 13 men at the station. Now there are
three.
West view of the destroyed
depot where station agent
Harry Buck was assigned.
On page four of this history I
mentioned the weather flag
that was erected by A.O.
Hunt. In this photo the
weather flag is on the left
hand side of the street.
At the head of Clinton ave. is
the courthouse completed in
1871.
A Grand Trunk boxcar and a Anmueser-Busch refrigerator car standing on the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee
Railway track in Muir, Michigan.
Continued On Page-5
Page-4