Whitewater Passenger Depot was built in 1890-91 for the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, later known as the Milwaukee Road, replacing the original frame depot erected in 1852 when the railroad first came to Whitewater. The old depot was converted into a freight house beside the new building until the late twentieth century. Passenger service to Whitewater ended in November 1951, ending the building's use as a depot. During the 1960s it housed Walenton's Feed and Garden Supplies store, and in 1973 the City of Whitewater purchased it and leased it to the Whitewater Historical Society for use as a local history museum, which opened to the public in July 1974. Designed by noted Midwestern architect J.T.W. Jennings in the High Victorian Gothic style, the building is distinguished by its polychromatic red brick and tan stone exterior and gothic-influenced decoration on its projecting gables. A renovation project in 2012 restored the exterior and rehabilitated the interior to support its continued use as a museum.