This interurban shortline was originally chartered in 1851 as the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad in Ohio, which was to build a line north out of Toledo, OH, to a point on the state border with Michigan.

Meanwhile, in 1855, the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Railroad was incorporated in the state of Michigan to build a line south out of Detroit, MI, to the town of Monroe, near the state border with Ohio.

The DM&T began construction on their line as such, eventually obtaining the right to continue their line beyond the MI-OH state border and into Toledo in agreement with the MS&NI, which had yet to build their line. The entirety of the line, 65 miles in length, was completed by 1856.

In 1869, the line was merged with the nearby Lake Shore Railway to form the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, itself acquired by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad in 1877, and ultimately becoming part of the massive New York Central in 1915.

The line was abandoned under NYC ownership in 1928. Evidence of the right-of-way is hard to find today; the map presented here only shows the known portion of the line.