Former Milwaukee Road Train Station in MN, now Demolished

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The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Depot in Farmington is significant as the only major railroad structure remaining in the Dakota County towns that developed as station points. Farmington, like numerous other county towns, was dependent on the railroads for its late 19th-century expansion as a regional commercial center. The town was platted at the intersection of two early lines, the Minnesota Central and the Hastings and Dakota railroads, both of which were absorbed into the growing Milwaukee Road system by the early 1870s. Farmington later became the site of a large freight yard from 1910 to 1921. The combination passenger and freight depot, built in 1894, occupied the site of earlier depots. The structure resembles those built by other carriers such as the Soo Line in the Midwest, rather than most stations on the Milwaukee Road. Its distinguishing feature is a massive roof that serves as a visual landmark in Farmington.

The Station was demolished on April 17^th, 1984.

Building Description

The Milwaukee Road Depot is located at the intersection of Oak Street and the railroad tracks, one block from the center of the Farmington business district. It is a one-story rectangular wood-frame building approximately 25 feet wide and 100 feet long. The upper two-thirds of the exterior walls, painted light gray, are of horizontal weatherboard, and the lower third is flat horizontal siding painted dark gray. There are two rectangular bays, one on each side of the building. The distinguishing feature of the depot is a large hip roof with broadly flared eaves, originally covered with wood shingles and now overlaid with asphalt ones. There are two interior brick chimneys. The only decorative features are the unornamented brackets supporting the eaves. The interior has wooden floors and narrow vertical wood paneling. The platform surrounding the depot is constructed of brick. On the west and north sides of the building, these bricks are incised with a geometric circle-and-line pattern; on the east side, many bricks are inscribed with makers names such as "Des Moines," "Flint Co.," and "Purington Block."

(1979)