History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

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decree. R. J. Lounsbury acted as receiver of the road for some time
before its acquisition by the Grand Trunk management.
COMING OF ELECTRIC LINES
On November 5, I889, an ordinance was passed through the city
council granting the Pontiac & Orchard Lake Railroad Company permission to construct its lines along certain thoroughfares; the routes
thus laid down were changed in several details before the system was
completed, which has given the city (now owned by the Detroit United
Railway) such excellent service. Under the ordinance all locomotion
by steam was debarred within the city limits, and the fare within such
limits fixed at five cents per individual.
When the Detroit & Northwestern Railway Company built its line
from Detroit to Orchard Lake, in I890, it purchased the Pontiac &
Orchard Lake Railway, which gave that corporation a complete route
to the county seat and metropolis. In 1902 the Detroit United Railway
commenced that process of absorbtion by which it acquired all the interests
of the Detroit & Northwestern, as well as of the Detroit & Pontiac
Railroad, and obtained a virtual monopoly of the electric service within
Oakland county.
THE GRAND TRUNK SYSTEM
Of the steam railways, the three lines included in the Grand Trunk
System furnish Oakland county with its most complete facilities for
transportation. Generally speaking, they pass diagonally through its
territory, crossing and centering at Pontiac. The main line, known as
the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railway, runs diagonally through
the county from Royal Oak to Holly, passing through Royal Oak, Bloomfield, Pontiac (southwest corner), Waterford (northeast corner), Independence (southwest corner), Springfield, Rose (northeast corner), and
Holly (southwest corner) townships, and including the following stations: Royal Oak, Birmingham, Pontiac, Drayton Plains, Waterford,
Windiate Park, Clarkston, Davisburg and Holly. There are about forty
miles of the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee line within the county,
following being the distances between the stations: Royal Oak to Birmingham, 5 miles; to Pontiac, 8; to Drayton Plains, 5; to Waterford, 2;
to Windiate Park, I; to Clarkston, I; to Davisburg, 7; to Holly, 5.
Commencing at South Lyon, in the southwestern corner of the county,
the Michigan Air Line division of the Grand Trunk runs in a northeasterly direction, twenty-five miles to Pontiac, and thence eight miles
to Rochester near the eastern county line. The stations along the way
are South Lyon, New Hudson, Wixom, Walled Lake, Orchard Lake,
Sylvan Lake, Pontiac, Almy and Rochester. The line passes through
Lyon, Milford (southeast corner), Commerce and West Bloomfield
townships.
The Pontiac, Oxford & Northern branch of the Grand Trunk System takes a northerly direction from the county seat, as its name indicates, traversing Pontiac, Orion, Oxford and Addison townships, and
embracing these stations: Pontiac, Eames, Cole, Oxford, Shoup and