Faribault, Minnesota Milwaukee Road Depot
Faribault, Minnesota Milwaukee Road Depot
The Milwaukee Road (Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific or CMStP&P) Depot in Faribault, Minnesota was built sometime after 1902. I have been unable to find the exact year. The earliest photo that I've been able to find of it is from 1912.
Over the years since the Milwaukee's demise, the depot has housed several local businesses and is currently an insurance office.
The Milwaukee Road depot is situated on the tracks just a few blocks south of the site where the Milwaukee Road and Chicago Great Western tracks intersected.
Faribault hosted three major railroads: the Milwaukee Road, the Rock Island Line and Chicago Great Western. Each of them had their own passenger depot, but only the Milwaukee Road and Rock Island depots survive.
1912
The depot was part of the Milwaukee Road's I&M Division, a line that connected the Twin Cities to Austin, Minnesota and on to points south in Iowa. It was all taken over by the Canadian Pacific sometime in the 1980's and as late as 2004, the tracks were being used by the Iowa, Chicago, and Eastern Railroad. They aren't too far gone, but they're definitely showing the disuse of recent years.
Abandoned tracks - Click image to view original.
The image description for the picture on the left that Richard Held, the photographer, has on it:
A view up the -alas- inactive, trash-littered rusty rails of the Milwaukee Road's I &M division towards the Milwaukee Faribault depot. Rails were used by the Iowa, Chicago, and Eastern for regular service as late as at least 2004. Somebody bring this line back to life!
I will gladly second that motion! Held has quite a few great but sad photos of the remains of the Milwaukee Road in Faribault on the rrpicturearchives.net website if you are interested in seeing them. I would definitely recommend it.
Below are a couple of other photos of the depot when it was still being used by the railroad.
1975
