SAGINAW, MI — The nonprofit preserving Saginaw’s historic and defunct train depot will host a fundraiser next month.
The Potter Street Station Raise The Roof fundraiser is set for 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, May 14, at the Saginaw Club, 219 N. Washington in downtown Saginaw.
Organizers say the event will feature music from The String Thing band, door prizes, a silent auction and hors d’oeuvres.
Tickets cost $30.
Organizers hope to sell about 150 tickets in advance of the gathering, said Denise Meyer, president of the Saginaw Depot Preservation Corporation that owns the station.
Antique Warehouse, 1122 Tittabawassee in Zilwaukee; and dawn of a new day, 210 S. Washington in downtown Saginaw, will sell tickets for the event. Meyer hopes to secure other sales locations in the coming days. Individuals interested in attending the fundraiser also can seek tickets by contacting Saginaw Depot Preservation Corporation members via direct message with the Potter Street Station Facebook page, she said.
Proceeds from the ticket sales will benefit the nonprofit’s effort to repair sections of the station’s deteriorating roof, Meyer said.
“We’re trying to keep it from getting any worse,” she said. “Our goal is to make as much money as we can.”
Saginaw Depot Preservation Corporation, which saved the station from destruction on more than a few occasions, hosts events throughout the year to raise money for preserving the 1881-built facility.
Potter Street Station welcomed passenger trains for 69 years, beginning 24 years after Saginaw was incorporated as a U.S. territory. Its terminal was a destination for Irish immigrants drawn to the region during the lumber boom of the late 19th century, for Asians seeking salt mine jobs about that same time, and for Southern Blacks who sought a claim in General Motors’ expansion in the first half of the 1900s.
The last passenger to board a ride there was in 1950.
For much of the last half-century, the facility sat vacant, its 19th-century façade gradually eroding with time. Still, there remains interest in returning life to the old train station.
Most recently, Saginaw Transit Authority Regional Services (STARS) officials began seeking contractors for a feasibility study that could eventually relocate some of the organization’s operations in Potter Street Station.
For more information on the station and the fundraiser supporting it, visit the Potter Street Station Facebook page, operated by Saginaw Depot Preservation Corporation.
RELATED:
Saginaw Temple Theatre officials hope ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ Saturday night screening builds audience
Saginaw’s Civitan Rec Center could score second life as STARS bus services facility
Could passenger trains return to Saginaw’s Potter Street Station? With a congressman asking, an idea gains steam.