Sidetrack Bar and Grill is a restaurant on the east end of Depot Town

Depot Town

Depot Town is a commercial area, with some residences above storefronts, in Ypsilanti, Michigan's historic district. Depot Town proper consists of East Cross Street from the Huron River to North River Street, and a small area on the 300-block of North River Street. However, several blocks in the...

 in Ypsilanti, Michigan

Ypsilanti, Michigan

Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti...

, at 56 East Cross Street. It is just down the road from Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...

 and is a popular hangout for students and faculty. Linda French, who has owned the restaurant since 1980, named it after “its unique location alongside the main railroad line from Detroit to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

.” The location has served as a restaurant, under different names, as far back as 1850. It has a large beer selection as well as liquor and wine and has won awards for its food.

Names

Sidetrack Bar and Grill is the current name of the restaurant on the corner of River St. and Cross St. because of its location next to the railroad tracks. Before it was Sidetrack Bar and Grill it was known as Central Bar or “The Central.” The name was from the New York Central Railroad

New York Central Railroad

The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...

 being the owner of the rail line next to Central Bar. New York Central Railroad sold the line to Pennsylvania Railroad

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

 which changed the name of the rail line; the Central Bar did not change their name. Christo’s Bar was the name previous to Central Bar because the Christo family was the owners and operators. Pictures of them can be found in the Sidetrack's menu today. From back in the nineteenth century until 1949, Max’s was the moniker of the bar. Most of the patrons were said to be railroad workers not college students and faculty like they are today.

Train Wreck

Sidetrack’s building has an atypical shape due to a train derailment that happened in 1929. On an early January morning, a freight train moving through Depot Town came off its track and crashed into the corner of what is now Sidetrack Bar and Grill. The owner of the building, who lived just above the section that was hit, was uninjured. As a result, she had most of her personnel effects scattered out in the street. There were only a few people near the railroad crossing when it derailed including an 18-year-old female who was knocked unconscious and a man who was sitting in his car, but was able to get away unharmed. When the current owners went to build a patio on the spot, they found some of the debris had been piled up underneath, which made it more difficult to dig post holes.

Post Prohibition

When prohibition was repealed new laws stated that entrances to bar had to be at least five hundred feet from churches. This caused the entrance to the restaurant changed from the east side of the building to the north side in 1931.The church that was located within the five hundred foot limit, burned down before construction began on the back patio.

Awards

GQ magazine named Sidetrack’s “Our Famous Burger” one of the "Twenty Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die." In the article the magazine said “The closer you come to a college campus, the worse burgers get” and that Sidetrack “is an exception.”
Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

 had a segment on Gayle King’s quest for eating the best burgers in America and according to Sidetrack’s web site the bar and grill is mentioned. Sidetrack’s menu also claims that they were voted second best restaurant outside Ann Arbor four times.

The Betty Anne Waters Story

Sidetrack Bar and Grill was closed for two days in March of 2009 as it was used for location filming for the Hilary Swank

Hilary Swank

Hilary Ann Swank is an American actress. Swank's film career began with a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then a major part in The Next Karate Kid , as Julie Pierce, the first female protégé of sensei Mr. Miyagi...

 film, Conviction. The film is based on the true story of a working mother who puts herself through law school in order to defend her brother after a wrongful murder conviction.