The Saint Paul Union Depot

Saint Paul Union Depot was constructed by architect Charles Frost for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (The Milwaukee Road) and opened in 1923. The station, built in the Classical Revival style, replaced two former buildings on the site and by the time it was built the “Golden Age” of passenger rail travel in this country would soon be ending, following World War II. However, the station still served millions of passengers each year through WWII and played host to the Milwaukee Road’s most famous passenger trains, the Hiawathas.

While the Milwaukee Road was another of several Midwestern granger roads (meaning that it served the heart of America’s breadbasket in the Midwest and plains) it clearly distinguished itself from the many others by having a direct transcontinental line to the Port of Seattle, which competed with the likes of the western railroads, Great Northern (GN) and Northern Pacific (NP).

Like its name implies you can probably guess the Milwaukee Road began in its namesake city Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1850 known as the Milwaukee & Mississippi. After being renamed and then taken over by the Milwaukee & St. Paul the M&StP became known as the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul when it reached Chicago. After extending out through much of the Midwest serving the Heartland the railroad added “Pacific” to its name when it decided to build west, all the way to the Pacific coast and Seattle, Washington which it reached in 1909.

The Milwaukee Road, just a few years later in 1915, electrified its Rocky Mountain Division between Harlowton, Montana and Seattle, Washington, including south through Tacoma, a distance totaling over 616 miles (there was a gab in this electrification between Avery, Idaho and Othello, Washington). The electrified lines would make the railroad a celebrity in the railfan community as few other freight railroads boasted such a project, or electrification at all!

Not only was the railroad famous for its electrification but also its Hiawatha passenger trains, especially those that operated through the heartland on its main line that reached the cities of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska. Featuring steam locomotives of the Hudson (4-8-4) and Atlantic (4-4-2) classes they could regularly reach speeds of over 100 mph across the flat plains along track that was virtually as straight as an arrow from Chicago to points West and their Reduce to 90 trackside signs are legendary.

In the end, the railroad’s loyal and hardworking employees through the end were sadly cheated by upper management, which made a series of dumbfounding decisions beginning in the 1970s that ultimately ended in the railroad being sold to a rival in 1985.

When Amtrak took over intercity passenger rail operations in 1971 it opted not to use Saint Paul Union Depot, instead decided on nearby Midway Station for its services to the Twin Cities. Thankfully, Saint Paul Union Depot has been preserved; in 1974 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and today serves as an office building although future plans for it are much grander. If developed the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative would see the Twin Cities region as the central hub of a high-speed commuter rail and light rail corridor with Saint Paul Union Depot the centerpiece of that plan.

For more information about how Saint Paul Union Depot will fit into this plan please click here to visit the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority’s website.

For more reading about railroad stations you might want to consider a copy of Railroad Stations from author Brian Solomon. While the book is just a very general overview of some of the great stations that once stood in this country it is quite good with lots of historical photographs, including that of Grand Central Terminal and the late Pennsylvania Station (it also gives a history of the thousands of small depots that existed in most communities). All in all if you’re interested in stations and depots you’re sure to enjoy Mr. Solomon’s book on the subject.