The Port Huron & Lake Michigan Railroad, later the Grand Trunk Western, arrived here in 1870 after William H. Imlay, a Connecticut capitalist, had begun buying Michigan pinelands in 1836 and newly organized Imlay Township was named for him in 1850. The railroad cut through Imlay’s forests and arrived in July 1870, and its chief engineer, Charles Palmer, purchased 240 acres of land and platted Imlay City less than a week later. Within eighteen months the town had 500 residents, a schoolhouse, two hotels, nearly 20 stores, and an additional 100 buildings. The first depot burned in 1917, makeshift quarters served for a decade, and the present depot was built in 1927 according to Grand Trunk’s specifications, with an addition built on the west end in 1930. Grand Trunk abandoned the depot in 1971 and sold it to the city for use as the Imlay City Historical Museum.