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I'm editing an article that was sent to me on the PM/C&O Michigan City passenger depot and freight house buildings at the corner of Arthur and Franklin Streets

Would anyone be able to give me the approximate date that each of these were demolished? The material I'm working with is a bit confused on that, partly due to an undated newspaper clipping that talks about the PM wanting to demolish the depot in 1942, but there being photos in the piece that was sent to me showing the building standing into the 1960s. As I read the material, the depot would have been closed in the 1940s and boarded up, then would have stood there derelict for about twenty years.

My understanding is that the freight house stood until at least 1971.

If you haven't used the Historic Aerials web site:

https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer

it's often helpful at answering these questions. You can plug in an approximate or actual address and you'll be able to view any available Aerial and Topo maps for a location. The Topos tend not to be updated as frequently but can help show buildings and rail lines that existed before aerials were taken. Using the aerials may not give you an exact year when a building or rail line disappeared but it usually gets you within a range of years of when those were still present.

Thanks! That helped me to eliminate a couple of dates that had been suggested. Now I can at least narrow it down to the depot having been demolished between 1952 and 1961, which is an improvement. The lack of any driveway and parking by 1952 implies that while the depot was still standing, the PM or C&O did actually stop using the building between 1942 and 1952.

What I see there challenges a number of dates the article's author was given by people in Michigan City when he did his research a few years ago. Farther down the rabbit hole I go...