Between 1855 and 1858 the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway built a rail line from Detroit to Grand Haven, and in 1856 Gaines Station was established as a rail stop and post office. In 1859 Henry Walker platted the town, aligning its streets with the railroad. The community soon became a local shipping hub, with daily trains bringing people, mail, and goods, and carrying away wheat, oats, barrel staves, lumber, and broom handles. The Village of Gaines was incorporated in 1875. According to early Genesee County histories, the first building in Gaines was a wood-frame railroad depot, replaced by a brick depot in 1881. The station closed when rail service ended in the 1950s. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Genesee Avenue/Walker Street Historic District in 1983, the depot later deteriorated. In 1991 concerned citizens formed Gaines Station, Inc. to save it, rehabilitation lasted from 1992 to 1997, and in 1998 the building reopened as a branch of the Genesee County Public Library.