MARQUETTE — The special exhibit “Railroads of Marquette County: Yesterday and Today” is open at the Marquette Regional History Center through Feb. 11, 2023.

Railroads were a central part of Marquette since its earliest development. Trains were an everyday sight around the city and downtown, crossing Front Street with ore cars, pulling into the depot to pick up and drop off passengers, or hauling logs from Alger County. Many Marquette families relied on the railroads for their livelihoods. Multiple railroads were headquartered in the city.

As iron mines on the Marquette Range opened in the 1840s, railroads developed to haul the iron ore. As mining expanded, so did the number of tracks and ore docks.The railroads connected the Upper Peninsula to the rest of the country.

The exhibit will show where the tracks ran, what they carried, and their destination. It will look at how working the railroad has changed over the decades and how it is part of this region today. This exhibit will feature select hands-on elements as well as maps, artifacts, and photographs.

For more information, go to Marquettehistory.org.