Minneapolis Great Northern Depot

Great Northern Depot
island platforms
Tracks	12 (former)
Other information
Station code	MIN (former)
History
Opened	1914
Closed	1978[1]
Former services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Cambridge toward Duluth Arrowhead Terminus Willmar toward Seattle Empire Builder Red Wing toward Chicago Terminus Twin Cities Hiawatha St. Cloud toward Seattle North Coast Hiawatha Preceding station Burlington Route Following station Terminus Minneapolis – Chicago Saint Paul toward Chicago Preceding station Chicago and North Western Railway Following station Terminus Chicago – Minneapolis via Milwaukee Chicago Chicago – Minneapolis via Madison Minneapolis – Ashland Ashland Omaha Omaha – Minneapolis Terminus Preceding station Chicago Great Western Railway Following station Kansas City Main Line Terminus Preceding station Great Northern Railway Following station Wayzata toward Seattle Main Line via Willmar St. Paul Terminus Robbinsdale toward Seattle Main Line via St. Cloud St. Paul Terminus St. Paul – Duluth Coon Creek Junction toward Duluth Wayzata toward Hutchinson Hutchinson – Minneapolis Terminus Fridley toward Milaca Milaca – Minneapolis Preceding station Northern Pacific Railway Following station Coon Creek toward Seattle or Tacoma Main Line St. Paul Terminus Terminus Minneapolis – Duluth St. Paul toward Duluth Elk River toward Winnipeg Winnipeg – St. Paul St. Paul Terminus
Location
Great Northern Depot Location in Minnesota Show map of Minnesota Great Northern Depot Location in United States Show map of the United States

The Minneapolis Great Northern Depot, also known as Great Northern Station,

History

The station was sometimes called the Minneapolis Union Depot, which actually was the name of the previous station on the opposite side of Hennepin Avenue that had been in use for 30 years. The older Union Depot was razed; today, that site is used for loading docks by the central downtown Minneapolis Post Office. The Stone Arch Bridge was built to serve the original Minneapolis Union Depot, but later provided access to the Great Northern Depot. The Minneapolis BNSF Rail Bridge, an older crossing of the Mississippi River to the north, also served the depot with a cutoff track located on the bridge.

The Minneapolis Great Northern Depot was built to serve the railroad empire of

The Depot was constructed of brick and reinforced concrete. It was faced with light

Passenger train service through the depot declined from a peak of 125 daily trains during World War II to just one route when Amtrak began operation in 1971—the Empire Builder.^[3] Amtrak opted to consolidate all of its Twin Cities service at the Great Northern Depot, shuttering St. Paul's Union Depot.

Traffic rebounded very slightly in the following years, as the

The Great Northern Depot was demolished later that year. The area lay vacant and was adjacent to the Berman Buckskin building and the Chicago Great Western railway freight warehouse. All these buildings were torn down to make way for development; the site is occupied by the third and current

Target Field station for the Metro light rail line and Northstar commuter rail line was constructed at the site of Target Field along BNSF Railway's Wayzata Subdivision

. It is located five blocks west and two blocks north of the former depot.

Trains

It was the destination for trains of several railroads that served Minneapolis, including,

• Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (Burlington)
• Chicago and North Western Railway
  (Omaha Road)
• Chicago Great Western Railway
• Great Northern Railway
• Northern Pacific Railway

The

• Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot Freight House and Train Shed
  – Former Minneapolis destination for Milwaukee Road, Soo Line, and Rock Island passenger trains.
• Midway station – Former passenger station serving the Twin Cities.
• Minnehaha Park
  . Depot is owned by the Minnesota Historical Society and staffed by the Minnesota Transportation Museum.
• Saint Paul Union Depot – Former and current St. Paul passenger train destination, recently restored.

Demolished

The following railroad depots that once existed in Minneapolis have been demolished.

• Chicago Great Western Railway Depot – located on South Washington Avenue at 10th avenue South. The location was a parking lot for many years, and is now redeveloped into high density residential blocks.
• Chicago Great Western Freight Station was adjacent to the Great Northern Depot, also on the North side of Hennepin Avenue.
• Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway Station – located at the Southeast corner of 4th street North and Washington Avenue North, currently a parking lot.
• Dan Patch Line and later the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway) as well as the Minneapolis, Anoka and Cuyuna Range Interurban railway. It was located at the Northwest corner of 7th St. North and 3rd Avenue North, now Target Field
  .
• Minneapolis Union Depot – the predecessor to the Great Northern Depot, located on the South side of Hennepin Avenue next to the Mississippi river, currently green space between the bridge and Minneapolis Central post office.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Great Northern Station (Minneapolis).

• A History of Minneapolis Railways at the Hennepin County Library.

Photos

• Great Northern Railroad Station^{[permanent dead link]} at the Hennepin County Library.
• Great Northern Railroad Station at the Minnesota Historical Society.