Trains came from all directions and made Wixom a hub of commerce. In 1871, Willard Clark Wixom founded the village on property at the intersection of planned railroad lines. One line, later named Pere Marquette and now CSX, was built through here that year. The intersecting Grand Trunk Railway was completed in 1883, and by then Willard Wixom and Judson Sibley had established the largest produce storage depot in the region. In 1925, a fire burned through much of Wixom, diminishing its economic stature, but the railroad was key to building the Ford Wixom Assembly Plant in 1957. The last operator on the Grand Trunk rail line was the Star Clipper Dinner Train, which closed in 2008.