This line was built in 1869 by the Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad (later the Fort Wayne and Jackson Railroad by 1880) in order to connect Fort Wayne, IN, with Jackson, MI, to the north. The line came under the control of the Lake Shore and Michigan Railroad in 1882 and then the New York Central shortly after, who continued operations thereover. Abandonment came in the early 1990s under ownership of Hillsdale County Railroad.

See also Steubenville to Fort Wayne, in Indiana.