Charles Palmer, founder of Imlay City, was the chief civil engineer and surveyor for the Port Huron & Lake Michigan Railroad. As the railroad expanded westward from Port Huron, he selected this locality as a likely produce market between Attica and Capac, purchased a tract of 240 acres, planned and surveyed the streets, and named the village Imlay City; the township had been named Imlay in 1850 after Connecticut-based capitalist William H. Imlay. The village of Imlay City was incorporated by an act of legislature on April 4, 1873, and became a city in April 1970. Trains began running through Imlay City on August 15, 1870. The first wooden depot had separate waiting rooms for men and women and was destroyed by fire sometime after 1921; the existing brick depot was built in 1927, and in 1930 a 25 by 25 foot addition was built on the west end for baggage. After 101 years, passenger service was discontinued in 1971. In 1902 the Town Hall was built on the northwest corner of Almont Avenue and Fourth Street, housing the city offices, a jail, the fire department, and an opera house; a clock was installed on the tower in 1903, a fire bell was added in 1904, the clock tower was removed in 1941, and the building was torn down in 1976. In 1870, Imlay City and the surrounding area were mostly forest, and lumber camps within 25 miles bought supplies there while half a dozen mills shipped lumber and shingles from the city; that year, more than $300,000 was paid out for square timber and staves, making 600 carloads. In the late 1800s, farms in Imlay City produced both family sustenance and income, and the railroad built four large cattle yards near the tracks on Almont Avenue. Farmers raised hogs, sheep, and cattle and shipped dairy products to Buffalo and Chicago markets. By 1925, Imlay Township farmers were growing cucumbers under contract and salting stations were common. In 1946 the Patzer Food Products Company built a large plant to make cucumber pickles and sauerkraut with 45 pickling tanks, and in 1957 Vlasic Food Products Company bought the 14-acre plant and steadily enlarged the facilities.