Lake Front Depot
Lake Front Depot | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Kenosha Subdivision
Shoreline Subdivision | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1889 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | May 15, 1966 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former services | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Lake Front Depot was a
Chicago and North Western Railway (C&NW). It was located near the shore of Lake Michigan at the end of East Wisconsin Avenue, by today's Milwaukee County War Memorial. The structure was built with stone in the Romanesque style, and had a tall clock tower
which reached 234 feet (71 m) high. The depot cost $200,000 to build at the time, and eventually served 98 trains a day.
Chicago and North Western owned the depot until 1964 when
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road). The Milwaukee Road had itself vacated its old Everett Street Depot
the previous year.
The Lake Front Depot lasted two more years until 1968. Some efforts were made to save the building from being torn down, but they were unable to raise the needed money. Estimates ranged from $325,000 to restore the structure to $575,000 to move it to another location.[1]
Many of the C&NW's "400" trains served this station starting in 1935. In the early days of the Chicago to Minneapolis–Saint Paul that some components in the drivetrain couldn't withstand the 410-mile (660 km) trip. The railroad eventually got the exchange process down to a very quick five minutes.
Other trains to serve the depot included the Flambeau 400, Peninsula 400, and Valley 400.[2]
References
- ^ Charlie House (February 2, 1968). "End of Line in Sight for Towering Depot". The Milwaukee Journal. pp. 1, 5 (Accent section). Retrieved 2010-02-16.
- ISBN 978-0-8166-5449-9.