Minnehaha Depot

Milwaukee Road station agents affectionately called the quaint little Minnehaha Depot "the Princess." Its delicate gingerbread architecture recalled the Victorian era, when ladies in bustles and gentlemen in high collars traveled largely by train. The first track connecting Minneapolis with Mendota was laid in 1865 by the Minnesota Central Railway, predecessor of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway. The depot was built in the mid-1870s to replace a smaller station at this site. Throngs of picnickers and sightseers took the sixteen-minute ride from Minneapolis to Minnehaha Park and the old Longfellow Gardens Zoo, while others traveled to and from Fort Snelling and Mendota. In 1910, three trains made thirteen round trips daily to the depot. It was a scene of feverish activity during World War I and World War II because of military traffic in and out of Fort Snelling. The Milwaukee Road closed the station in August 1963 and presented it to the Minnesota Historical Society in 1964. The Minnesota Transportation Museum, Inc., an affiliate of the society, undertook the depot's restoration and maintenance.

Minneapolis, Minnesota · United States