Great Northern Depot, Minneapolis (Before and After), 1978
Wrecking balls began bashing apart Minneapolis’s old Great Northern Depot on July 5, 1978.* The depot had opened 65 years earlier to serve James J. Hill’s railroad empire. By 1978, the declining popularity of passenger rail service and the opening of Amtrak’s new Midway station in St. Paul had made it obsolete. The Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank now sits on the depot site.
For more info:
Another great post by Nokohaha
Collection of Great Northern Depot photos by John Hill
Photos via Old Minneapolis (above) and John Hill (below)
* The demolition date comes from an article in the Minneapolis Star, July 6, 1978
Back of the Great Northern Depot, taken from the Hennepin Avenue bridge. April, 1979.
(photo by John Hill)
The Great Northern Deport was the magnificant train depot that a midwestern city like Minneapolis needed for its 20th Century train traffic. It was a stop for the Amtrak Empire Builder for a few years before the midway depot was built in 1978 for Minneapolis-St. Paul. It was razed shortly after this photo was taken. Here is a photo of it in its prime.
