Grand Rapids Michigan Token

[fatsmahoney]

I have a token here found in Grand rapids Michigan one side read Graham &Morton Route
Dock foot Wabash Ave

The other side reads The excursion Route St. Joe 50 cents something boat and then effective June 21st

one side looks to have a picture of a river boat Im looking for any info about this token possible age its about the size of a half dollar sorry no pictures camera dont work

 

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[idahotokens]

In the April 2007 issue of the Journal of the Token and Medal Society http://www.tokenandmedal.org/ , David Schenkman wrote a nice article about Steamer tokens. He describes a typical timetable token (which may be like the one you have) as:

GRAHAM & MORTON LINE / PHONE CENTRAL 2162 / DOCK FOOT WABASH AVE
THE GREAT EXCURSION ROUTE / ST. JOE / 50¢ / ROUND TRIP WEEKDAYS / GRAND RAPIDS / $1.50 / DAY BOAT / EFFECTIVE JUNE 21ST.
32mm Rd Br

He says the Graham & Morton Company operated Great Lakes steamers for many years and issued this one in the early 1900s. This piece is called a timetable token as its purpose was to remind the holder of prices and schedules.

John in ID

 

[tokensmith]

It sounds as if your token is timetable O, one of eight different issued by Graham & Morton. If it is, then the rates and times given are for the 1909 season.

Graham & Morton was primarily a fruit hauler carrying fruit from west Michigan to the Chicago markets. It wasn't until the late 1890's that it became popular to take day trips to St. Joseph.

If you would care to find out more, the book Lake Michigan Passenger Steamers by George W. Hilton gives quite a detailed history of the Graham & Morton line.