1881-1913

• Nine railroads joined to form the Saint Paul Union Depot Company in 1879 to better serve passengers traveling on the many trains available. James J. Hill, nicknamed the “Empire Builder,” through his Great Northern Railway, led the effort to create a single passenger terminal. The nine railroads included:
  • Great Northern
  • Northern Pacific
  • Chicago, Saint Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha
  • Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul
  • Chicago Great Western
  • Chicago Burlington & Quincy
  • Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Sault St. Marie
  • Minneapolis & St. Louis
  • Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific

• The Empire Builder train was named after James J. Hill and was first operated by the Great Northern Railway.
• The first Union Depot in St. Paul opened in 1881 and was located south of Kellogg Blvd. The total cost of the first station cost $125,000 to build.
• Damaged by fire and rebuilt in 1884 in the same location, Union Depot became an important stopping point for immigrants, emigrants and orphans traveling on “orphan trains.” Immigrants and emigrants were often enticed west with free passage and the promise of land along the rails in exchange for work on the road or by the government in exchange for successful homesteading.
• Fire completely destroyed the depot in 1913. As early depots were often too small for rail travel demands at the time, the Saint Paul Union Depot Company determined that a grand building with great capacity for passenger space and many railroads was needed in the capitol city.

1913-1971

• Designed in the neoclassical style by noted architect Charles Sumner Frost in 1913, Union Depot is another local monument to James J. Hill’s eye for exquisite quality and detail. Sadly, Mr. Hill did not live to see the completion of the current building. He died in 1916.
• Charles Sumner Frost was born in Minnesota and educated at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He worked in Chicago in the late 1890s and designed the Northwestern and LaSalle stations there. He designed the Milwaukee Road and Great Northern stations in Minneapolis.
• Construction of the current building began in 1917 but was slowed by the demands of World War I and an economic depression. It was the largest construction project in downtown St. Paul during the 20th century. Original construction costs were $15 million.
• The station had 10 platforms and 21 passenger tracks. Eight of the tracks ended at Union Depot.
• The ceiling in the Concourse is in the Guastavino vault style. This architectural style is very structurally sound, incorporating several layers of tiles laid out in a herringbone pattern. As there are few recurring joints, the ceiling holds up well under heavy vibrations making it an excellent choice for a connection to a train station.
• On the second floor of the Concourse and lower levels of the Head House, there were large areas for mail handling. It was the third largest mail handling station, behind New York and Chicago, in its time. Tunnels under Kellogg Blvd. connected the Head House USPS operations out under the tracks for mail. These tunnels were also used for transport of baggage between the baggage check room and the tracks.
• Skylights in the Waiting Room were once blackened with tar to protect WWII troops being deployed through Union Depot from potential air attacks. Minnesota’s young men and women left from here to go to war. Munitions and equipment from the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP – Arden Hills) and troops from Fort Snelling met here at Union Depot to board trains and head out to service during World War II.
• Travelers passing through Union Depot for work and holiday were greeted by predominantly African American station porters–known as “Red Caps” due to their uniforms. For nearly 80 years, they were the first and friendliest faces greeting travelers, and many went on to become business professionals and community leaders. In 2013, the Red Cap Room at Union Depot was dedicated in recognition of their significant role.
• The last passenger train (Burlington’s Afternoon Zephyr) left Union Depot on April 30, 1971. The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) was launched on May 1, 1971 with operations in Minneapolis.

• When the last passenger train left Union Depot, the Waiting Room and Concourse were closed. The Head House is the one part of the building which has remained open to the community since its construction in 1920.
• Saint Paul Union Depot Company and Minnesota Transfer Railway Company held offices in Union Depot until 1974 when they located to the Midway area of St. Paul.
• In 1974, Union Depot’s Head House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• Located across Sibley Street from the train deck, the United States Postal Service purchased the train deck, Concourse and Waiting Room in 1977. The roundhouse was razed and all of the tracks were removed after the purchase. Tracks and train platforms were removed from the train deck and it was converted to accommodate mail transport by truck. The USPS used the property until 2010 when it moved operations to Eagan.
• Many businesses opened and closed in the Head House. Redevelopment schemes were discussed in the intervening years, but none came to full realization.
• The Head House has been home to the William Crooks steam engine, Continental Cablevision and restaurants including Lee Ann Chin, Gordon’s and Christos.
• The Lowertown neighborhood in downtown St. Paul was designated as the eastern terminus of the planned light rail line. In 2002, the RCRRA formed the LOCATE committee, a group of stakeholders made up of business and civic leaders, charged with identifying a location for a multimodal transportation terminal in downtown St. Paul.
• Union Depot was envisioned by the LOCATE committee as a viable building for the proposed transportation hub. Located on the Green Line and in a neighborhood at the beginning of a classic urban renaissance, Union Depot was identified as emblematic of initiatives to integrate transportation, land use and environmental planning for robust development.
• The Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority’s goal was to have the renovation completed before the opening of the light rail line (Green Line).
• Negotiations for and purchase of the USPS property and portions of the Head House began by the Regional Railroad Authority in 2005. Property purchases totaled $95 million to reassemble the 33-acre site which extends to the east beyond the Lafayette (Hwy 52) bridge.

• The Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority continued extensive planning and design work with contractors, architects and historic groups, ultimately leading to the groundbreaking for the construction project in 2011.
• Restored to its original elegance, the work included:
  • 10,000 square feet of Tennessee pink marble floors, walls and columns were cleaned.
  • Extensive mechanical, electrical, HVAC and communication upgrades helped modernize the historic space.
  • Carriageway was reconstructed to mirror the original design but accommodate modern emergency vehicles. The Carriageway also allows access to travelers and visitors in need of an accessible entrance to the Head House.
  • An acre, 38,000 square feet, of decorative ceiling plaster was repaired and was fully restored to historically appropriate monochromatic colors.
  • 63 arched steel windows were removed and restored.
  • The original wooden track cabinets which alerted passengers to arriving trains were refurbished—right here in St. Paul—and reinstalled in their original positions. These white oak cabinets retain the original finishes but have been updated with electronic screens which provide real-time travel information to passengers.
  • The historic stair leading from the waiting room to the bus platform has rare puzzle tiles on most steps.
  • To accommodate the new train and bus traffic, 997 pilings were installed or repaired. The train platform includes two full-length tracks with access to a spur track and a stub track.
  • Train tracks, signals and switches were installed.
• Union Depot reopened in style befitting its grand scale on December 8, 2012.
• “Back on Track: The Rebirth of Saint Paul’s Union Depot” is an hour-long video broken into smaller segments which chronicles the 23-month renovation journey as told in the voices of those who worked on the magnificent restoration of this multimodal transportation hub.