Salem Train Wreck 1907

On Saturday July 20, 1907, at 6 am, 800 employees and friends of the Pere Marquette Railroad boarded an 8 am train for their annual picnic in Detroit at Belle Isle Park. At 9:13 am the excursion train, going 50 miles per hour rounded a bend in the track, east of Napier Road in Northville Township and ran head on into a freight train going west. The collision killed 28 that day and still remains the worst train crash in Michigan history. What happened that day and why is described in detail and what were the results of an inquiry into the crash, held in the city of Northville. Presented by Joe Oldenburg and sponsored by the Friends of the Plymouth District Library.