The Great Northern Depot
Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 10:15AMArticle by Michael Rainville, Jr.
The Great Northern Depot, one of Minneapolis’ former wonders, saw millions of passengers travel through during its over six decades of use. Minneapolis became a major transportation hub around the turn of the twentieth century thanks in large part to James J. Hill, a railroad tycoon and resident of Saint Paul. Hill, along with a group of investors, began purchasing railroad companies in 1878 and eventually formed the Great Northern Railway in 1889.
Great Northern Depot postcard from 1914. Photo: MNHS
The first depot in Minneapolis for the Great Northern Railway was known as the Union Depot and was located on the south side of Hennepin Avenue, between the Mississippi River and High Street, a road that no longer exists. After thirty years of operation, a larger station was greatly needed. Construction for the new station began in 1913 across Hennepin Avenue from the old station. A year later, on January 22nd, 1914, the new Great Northern Depot opened with a cost of $1.9 million, or roughly $53.2 million after inflation.
The architect hired to design the building was Charles Sumner Frost, who also designed the Milwaukee Road Depot in Minneapolis, the Saint Paul Union Depot, and the Navy Pier Auditorium in Chicago. Made from Kettle River Sandstone, Frost utilized the Beaux-Arts style of architecture for the overall design and featured a row of granite Doric columns lining Hennepin Avenue that gave the building its iconic look. The two main entrances were located on each side of the colonnade, facing Hennepin, and inside was a 11,540 square foot, two-story waiting area that could hold 250 passengers. Other features of the new depot included a travelers’ aid desk, eleven ticket windows, eighteen telephone booths, a newsstand, a barber shop, a dining room, and an infirmary.
By 1916, the new depot had 174 different routes stop at its platforms and saw about 20,000 passengers a day. Other than the Great Northern, other railroad companies to use the depot during this era were Burlington, Omaha Road, Chicago Great Western, and Northern Pacific, and famous trains also frequently stopped at the depot. Those included the Empire Builder, the Twin Cities Zephyr, the Twin Cities 400, and the North Coast Limited.
The way trains traveled to the depot from the east was over the Stone Arch Bridge, then northwest along what is now West River Parkway and underneath Hennepin Avenue to the depot platforms. Leaving the depot continuing westbound, trains would take a left turn onto the tracks that run under Target Field today. Trains were also able to take a right over the river and Nicollet Island to head back east or north.
Photo of the main lobby taken in 1925. Photo: MNHS
There were two peaks for train traffic at the depot, first in the early 1920s and later during World War II where 125 trains would come each day. After the war when the Interstate Highway System began developing along with an increase in air travel and personal vehicle ownership, train travel rapidly decreased. In 1971, passenger trains stopped going to the Milwaukee Road Depot and the Saint Paul Union Depot, and Amtrak became the only railway company to make stops at the Great Northern Depot, using it for only one route, the Empire Builder. During the next few years, more routes would be added, such as the Arrowhead to Duluth, the Twin Cities Hiawatha to Chicago, and the North Coast Hiawatha from Chicago to Seattle.
Photo of the 2nd floor waiting area taken in 1950. Photo: MNHS
An aerial photo of the Minneapolis riverfront with the depot in the upper left taken in the 1950s. Photo: Hennepin County Library
Photo of Hennepin Avenue looking towards Nicollet Island with the depot on the left taken in 1951. Photo: MNHS
Amtrak train at the depot, 1974. Photo: Hennepin County Library
Unfortunately, the amount of train traffic was not enough to justify the operating costs, so Amtrak built a new station in the Midway area of Saint Paul which operated from 1978 to 2014 when Amtrak returned to the Saint Paul Union Depot. Later in 1978, the Great Northern Depot was demolished and the land laid vacant until the Federal Reserve of Minneapolis built its third and current location in the city.
Aerial photo of the depot taken in 1978. Photo: MNHS
Demolition of the depot, 1978. Photo: Hennepin County Library
The last remnants of this once great train station can be found near the Grain Belt Brewery in Northeast Minneapolis, where artist Zoran Mosjilov has the granite Doric columns that once lined Hennepin Avenue at his outdoor art studio.
When train travel was the go-to mode of intercity transportation in the United States, the Great Northern Depot proudly stood over Hennepin Avenue and the Mississippi River for sixty-four years. Now, with $66 billion set aside in the 2021 Infrastructure and Jobs Investment Act for modernizing rail transportation, it would sure be nice to have an easily accessible train station in Minneapolis, so residents and visitors alike don’t have to use the light rail Green Line to get to the Saint Paul Union Depot to catch an Amtrak train. Can more platforms be added at the Target Field Station? Is there room to create a new, iconic depot in the parking lot of the Federal Reserve that already borders existing train tracks? Perhaps one day, Minneapolis will once again become a transportation hub as we look towards a greener, more affordable future for long-distance travel in the United States.
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About Michael Rainville, Jr.
A 6th generation Minneapolitan, Michael Rainville, Jr. received his B.A. in History, Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies, and M.A. in Art History from the University of St. Thomas.
