LEAD Magazine

The Gandy Dancer: ''The Finest Station''

By Ashley Gork
April 20, 2010

Photo courtesy of annarbor.com

While the University offers several riveting courses about exotic and exciting places, many historical enchantments can be found in our little town of Ann Arbor. Chief among these locations is hidden within the thick walls of The Gandy Dancer. An elegant seafood restaurant at 401 Depot Street, The Gandy Dancer offers tantalizing dishes and a fine selection of wines. However, more delicious than their calamari or shrimp cocktails is the restaurant's history.

Constructed in 1886 by Frederick Spier, The Gandy Dancer was originally pioneered as an elegant railroad station. In fact, the sign within the dinning room claims that it was “the finest station on the line between Buffalo and Chicago.” This station became an important route for many travelers, including celebrities, presidential candidates, and students. It marked an integral location in the Mid-West and improved transportation tremendously. However, this doesn’t mean that the operation always went smoothly.

The Gandy Dancer has not always been in the shape that it is today. In fact, it was even hit by a train once! Although this marks an interesting and common tale around Depot Street, it is not the foremost reason of why many say that The Gandy is haunted. According to a well-respected employee, the train station was once a location where people brought the deceased during World War I. Bodies that weren't claimed, he explains, were kept in the basement. When asked if anything eerie has ever happened during his career there, the employee doesn’t give much away. He does, however, admit to witnessing some lights being turned upside down and several glasses flying off shelves. Other unexplained incidences have happened to different employees, but he makes no comment of his own personal opinion about the hauntings.

During the Second World War, the train station experienced even more business. According to Grace Shuckman, its last big promotion was in 1960, ''when both John Kennedy and Richard Nixon addressed rallies from their campaign trains. They were the last in a long line of politicians to make whistle-stops in Ann Arbor, running back to William Howard Taft, Teddy Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, and William Jennings Bryan.'' Not long after this time, a man named Chuck Muer bought the train station and transformed it into the beautiful restaurant that it is today. Naming The Gandy Dancer after the laborers who once worked there, the restaurant coinsure kept the station intact, only changing a few minor details. Oddly enough, Chuck Muer had an interesting history of his own. It sadly ended, however, when the man disappeared out at sea and was never found again.

Although these are but a few stories of the restaurant's history, they are no doubt fascinating. The Gandy Dancer is a recommended restaurant for anyone looking for an enthralling bit of history, a chilling haunted story, or even a juicy piece of filet mignon. Whatever your soul is salivating for, let it be found at Ann Arbor’s classic restaurant, The Gandy Dancer.