Duluth Depot

The St. Louis County Depot is a historic railroad station in Duluth, Minnesota, United States. It was built as a union station in 1892, serving seven railroads at its peak. Rail service ceased in 1969 and the building was threatened with demolition until it reopened in 1973 as St. Louis County Heritage & Arts Center (The Depot). Train service also resumed from 1974 to 1985, by Amtrak.

Owned today by St. Louis County, the building houses two museums (Lake Superior Railroad Museum, and St. Louis County Historical Society Museum), two performing arts organizations (DSSO and Minnesota Ballet), and serves as the departure point for the North Shore Scenic Railroad.

The Depot is located at 506 West Michigan Avenue right off of I-35, which runs immediately southeast of the Depot. The historic building houses several contemporary and historic artworks and artifacts, as well as an experimental theater, and also hosts public events in its Great Hall. The 1977 addition, houses a large theater and a ballet studio. The lower station has one side platform and three island platforms that provide access to its seven tracks. The outer southeast active track is used by a scenic railroad, with the remainder being used to display various trains and train cars.

The current building is the second depot built on this site. The first, a small wooden building, was built in 1869. That same year a large group of Swedish immigrants arrived in Duluth, seeking work on the first railroad line to serve the city, the Lake Superior and Mississippi.

The Depot was designed by architectural firm Peabody and Stearns. Many local materials were used in the French Norman-style building, including granite, sandstone, and yellow brick. After two years of construction, the Depot was completed in 1892 at a cost of $615,000, at which point the earlier depot was demolished.

Over the decades, it served seven railroads: Duluth & Iron Range, Duluth, Missabe, & Iron Range, Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic, Duluth Missabe & Northern, Great Northern Railway, Northern Pacific, and the Saint Paul & Duluth.

The main entrance to the building on Michigan Street opened into a "general waiting room" (today known as the Great Hall) which featured a newsstand and a lunch counter. In addition the main floor also boasted a barber shop, a Western Union telegraph office, a smoking room, a ladies' waiting room, and a men's toilet.

A large train shed originally covered the building's platforms, but it was removed in 1924 and replaced by the canopies that remain.