L. S. Buffington is busy sketching the plans for the proposed new union depot. The plan provides for a tall and artistic tower, which will add much to the beauty of the massive structure. The tower will be fitted with a clock with a large dial at the four points of the compass. The hands of the clock will be visible from nearly all parts of the city. (The Minneapolis Tribune, Wednesday, October 13, 1880, Page 7)
There is good prospect that the bare rock piles, heaps of dirt and seemingly slow going process of excavation, which have been all that the people of the city have seen of the new Union depot, long talked of, will soon materialize in the actual shape of the hitherto mythical structure. The delay, thus far, arising from the difficulty in settling some questions of privilege as to crossings, viaducts and the like, is mostly over, and the work will be pushed forward more rapidly in the coming months. Thus far the work has been of such a nature as to allow the working of a limited number of men advantageously, and hence actual progress in the way of building has seemed small. Recently much has been done in the way of preparing plans for freight yards, side tracks, crossings and other necessary accompaniments to a large and first class station. Plans for the structure have also been submitted to the management, but it is too early to say which will be adopted. Yesterday an interview was had with Mr. J. J. Hill, president of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba, and the following facts learned. The entire cost of the whole improvement is to be not less than $2,225,000 including the bridge now nearly completed. The official dimensions of this structure are as follows: Length of bridge 2200 feet, having a breadth on top of 28 feet, composed of one arch of 40 feet, two arches of 48 feet, 16 arches of 80 feet and four arches of 100 feet each. The height of the bridge from the bottom of the piers to the top of the parapet is 82 feet, and height from low water mark to the same is 66 feet. The remaining work to be done on this will be pushed as rapidly as possible, and will be completed in a few weeks. Above the bridge, along the banks of the river to the proposed depot, and above the depot where the freight houses, sheds and side tracks are to be located, the grounds are to be improved on a comprehensive plan. Sites for these additions and outlines of the improvements the company wish to keep a secret until the time for immediate action in the way of building and grading arrives. Regarding viaducts, street intersections and the like, Mr. Hill gives it as his opinion that fewer will be needed than was at first supposed. He gives it as his opinion that the road through Minneapolis will necessitate fewer of these drawbacks than do roads in any other city of its size in the country. The depot itself is to be one of the finest in the country in the way of convenience and style of architecture. Some months ago a competent architect, in the employ of Mr. Hill, visited Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and other large cities for the purpose of studying the principal depots of the country and obtaining all the details of those conceded to be models. He has just returned, and is working out a plan for the structure here. One has already been completed, though whether it will be adopted is a matter of doubt. The general arrangement of the depot, from the nature of its location and the purpose for which it is designed, it being not a so-called “butt-end” depot, but one entirely through which trains may run will be similar to the Milwaukee depot in Chicago. The cars will be below the street level and hence the structure will be practically one story more than appears above ground. One of the chief questions which is now to be settled is how best to utilize space. The plan submitted gives a frontage of about 200 feet each on Bridge square and High street. At the comer is a tower of five stories surmounted by a spire, while the body of the building is three stories high. Just what material will be used has not been fully decided, but as near as can be determined it will be of red brick ornamented with terra cotta. The upper stories will be used for offices and the whole inside is to be finished in the most substantial style. The details in the way of lighting and heating and division into dining, waiting, and baggage rooms are not complete, and can only be determined by the adopted structure of the building. It is safe to say that they will be those best suited to the purpose. When once a plan is agreed upon, the work of building will be immediately begun and kept up through the winter. Next May the depot will be used and business done here, and the whole enterprise completed during next fall. (Minnesota Daily Tribune, Minneapolis, Tuesday, October 30, 1883, Page 6)
Fourteen years ago a small one-story frame depot, 16x24, was equal to all the demands made upon it by railroad travel to and from Minneapolis. The Milwaukee depot on South Washington Avenue was not thought of; the Omaha road, then known as the St. Paul and Sioux City, didn’t run to Minneapolis, the Minneapolis and St. Louis road, as at present incorporated, did not exist; and the St. Paul and Pacific’s two lines divided at the East Side junction, only one running through Minneapolis. The East Side junction was fully as important as the West Side or Minneapolis depot, and divided with it the honor of having three separate and distinct tracks for several hundred yards. Such a road as the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba had no place even in the imagination. It was not until 1879, only five short years ago, that the name of this now powerful and prosperous line became a fixture as one of the leading railroads of the country. In June of that year what was known as the St. Paul and Pacific Railway was absorbed by a new organization of capitalists, and its name was changed to the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba. The total mileage of the corporation then was about three hundred miles. There was one line from St. Paul to Breckenridge, and a second from St. Paul to Melrose. In Minneapolis, the depot accommodations were confined to a little brown building used by the St. Paul and Pacific on Washington Avenue and Fourth Avenue north. The new company made a few additions, but the general appearance of the structure still retained its frugality and modesty. It was not just then that the Manitoba road cared to apply its enterprise and push to a display in depots. The magnificent country of the Northwest commanded attention, and the opening of new lines was vigorously begun. The result has been an increase of road to over fourteen hundred miles, with nearly three hundred more projected for the immediate future. There has been since 1879, a direct communication with Duluth, of the Northeast; with Winnipeg and Devil’s Lake, of the Northwest, while new extensions are putting out to Turtle Mountains, Pembina Mountains and other far-distant points. With all this extension of mileage, there was a corresponding necessity for new equipment. When first coming into possession the Manitoba Company found 46 engines, 37 passenger coaches, 4 sleepers, 16 baggage and express cars, 30 cabooses, 400 box cars, and 300 flats, ample for the business done. There are now 201 engines, 100 passenger coaches, 20 sleepers, 45 baggage and express cars, 110 cabooses, 3,901 box freight cars, and 1,600 flats hard pressed to accommodate the freight and passenger pressure. The transit business is constantly increasing, and another year will make very material additions to the rolling stock imperative. The number of trains is constantly being made larger, there being twenty-seven daily trains now running between Minneapolis and St. Paul, where five years ago five trains were ample. The through trains and accommodations have seen a similar increase. With all this healthy and substantial development, Minneapolis and her other railroads have kept pace, the town of 1879 having become a flourishing metropolis, with half a score of great iron lines claiming it as a centre. The Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul had its own splendid plant, that has superior advantages to that held by any road in any city in America; but with the other roads, both new and old, the accommodations answering in the past have become too meagre and barren to meet a tithe of their purpose. In the emergency, the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba has again come to the front, and started the erection of President Hill’s assurance. President Hill, of the Manitoba road, gives assurance that the new depot will be far ahead of anything in Chicago or the West in size, beauty, and convenience, and will be double the capacity of the great New York Central depot in New York City. It is intended to have the building so far completed by winter that it will be in general use. The original plans have been changed considerably, make the expense aggregate more than first figured. The changes will give the structure a plainer exterior, but will add materially to the substantial appearance. The Work on the Depot. About the grounds there is a scene of the greatest activity. Hundreds of men and swarms of teams are engaged in excavating rock and dirt. About one hundred thousand cubic yards of dirt and forty thousand of stone have already been removed, leaving an estimated twelve thousand cubic yards of dirt still to be taken away, and perhaps as much rock. The contract for this work is held by George A. Brackett, with George McMullen sub-contractor on the rock removal. Between five and six hundred men, divided into gangs, each under a competent foreman, are employed, and so rapid is every move being made that it is believed the baggage rooms and main shed will be up and trains running by the last week in June. The depot building proper will be constructed of the best pressed red brick, with the style of architecture plain and simple, but substantial. It will be two stories above the ground floor, making it really three stories. The main entrance will nearly front First Avenue south, with a beautiful tower surmounting the building at this point. The measurement will be nearly three hundred feet long and 60 feet wide, with the iron shed 600 feet long, and over hundred feet wide. This shed will be covered by one immense arched roof of corrugated iron, and the pillars and sections are expected to begin to arrive next week. On the north side of the bridge will be a freight shed 300 feet long and 40 feet wide. The present tracks on the grounds are only temporary, being laid for the use of dirt trains run to help along the teams, in removing the debris. Four main tracks will be laid under the mammoth shed for the use of incoming and outgoing passenger trains. The Interior Department. The exact arrangement of the interior has not yet been fully determined upon. The main stairs will descend from a point a little north of First Avenue. The stairs will be wide with an easy slope. There will be ladies’ and gentlemens’ retiring rooms, both for public and private use on both the ground and second floors. The greatest care will be given every detail of fitting and furnishing, it being the wish to do away with even the slightest inconvenience. The dining room of the depot will be made a prominent feature, every appointment being first class, with the table ranking with the best in the land. (The Minneapolis Daily Tribune, Tuesday, April 29, 1884, Page 4)
Work on the walls of the new Union depot has commenced in earnest, they being up to the street level. (The Minneapolis Tribune, Sunday, June 29, 1884, Page 5)
…Chicago Anderson pressed brick… (The Minneapolis Tribune, Sunday, August 17, 1884, Page 3)
The first adequate idea of the appearance of the new Union Depot at Bridge Square, on which work has been going on for more than a year, is conveyed by the facsimile of the structure in the Tribune this morning. It is not until recently that the full and detailed plans have been known to a certainty, and consequently most that has been written concerning the structure has been but the presentation of indefinite and partially matured plans and propositions. Lately work has been progressing rapidly, and it has been of such a nature as to give the public some idea as to the magnificence and arrangement of the new station, when completed. There will be when completed, two almost separate and distinct buildings, which are to be joined by the arched roof constituting the car shed. On the side next the river, the first building which is to be used temporarily for depot purposes, is nearly completed, so far as external appearances go. It has a length of 268 feet, and a width of thirty, and is two stories high, the great part of the building being below the level of the street. On the first floor of this part of the building there are to be six rooms, with necessary closets, etc., the three large of which are to be used for baggage and express, receiving and shipping the east and west bound baggage having separate rooms. Each of these rooms opens directly to drive ways, underneath the Suspension Bridge. These rooms have dimensions of from 25 to 30 feet in width, by from 30 to 70 feet in length. On the upper story are sixteen offices, in the end next to Bridge Square, arranged on both sides of a long hall opening from the street and running about halfway down the length of the building. The other half of the building is to be devoted to the comfort and convenience of immigrants, and includes a kitchen, a sick room, bath room, separate apartments for men and women, wash rooms, closets, etc. In the centre of the building, on the side next the arched shed, is another entrance to the building, leading to the hallway mentioned above. The arrangements of this part of the depot are on the general plan of those which have been found to work to best advantage in other large passenger stations of the country. Beneath the arched roof of the train-shed there is a platform, cut up by tracks, 150 feet in width. The arch is nearly completed, and consists of an immense frame roof, supported on iron beams placed at intervals of about fifteen feet, and running down from Bridge Square for about three hundred and twenty-five feet. No trains will be run beneath this expect passengers. From the level of the tracks, of which there are to be eight, to the highest point in the arch the distance will be about fifty feet, and along the summit of the arch is a low framework with a gable that adds to the general appearance. The depot proper, of course, is the most elaborate and at the same time substantial looking of the buildings. Its official dimensions are 294 feet long by 65 feet wide and its height above the street level forty feet. It is three stories high, the lower one being below the level of the sidewalk. It is to be of plain red pressed brick, in a semi-Gothic style of architecture, and eminently solid in its appearance. At the corners on High Street and Bridge Square are towers, the main one rising to a height of 100 feet. The style of the building is to be plain, there being comparatively little in its make-up that is strictly ornamental. Main entrances lead from Bridge Square and High Street, over both of which are arches, the words “Minneapolis Union Depot” being chiseled over the one of High Street. The number of windows give assurance that the building will not lack for light. The roof is low with a gentle slope from both fronts, and its general style adds to the solidity of the building’s appearance. The ground floor of the depot proper is devoted to the large waiting rooms, the storage rooms, the ticket office, and the minor rooms, closets, etc. A long hall runs through the entire length of the building, and on the end fronting Bridge Square are four large cellars on either side. The waiting room is 60x120 feet, in the centre of the building, and from this two large stairways lead to the floor above. The lunch counter, of ample proportions, the news stand, barber shop and package room are also in this floor, and in the lower end are three offices 19x34 feet each, with smaller rooms for the train dispatcher and the batteries. The second floor, which is on the level of Bridge Square and High Street, will contain the principal waiting rooms, the ladies’ room occupying the front of Bridge Square. The structure stands back about twenty feet from Bridge Square. A wide platform will span the space between the square and the building, and another bridge cover the four freight tracks between the building and the retaining wall on the line of High Street. This platform will be fifty feet in width and will give to High Street practically a width of ninety feet. On this floor are the two main waiting rooms, the one set apart for the ladies, being sixty feet square, in the front of the building. Just beyond this, on either side of a wide passage way, are the ladies’ toilet room, another ticket office, and news stand, and beyond these the main waiting room, a large apartment 60x220 feet in size, from which is a passage way leading to a bridge across the tracks to the baggage rooms. A lunch counter extends half way across the further side of this room, and beyond this is the dining room, 40x80 feet, to be fitted with all the conveniences of the best regulated depot dining rooms. There is also on this floor a wine room and a serving room, with various other accessories. A broad flight of stairs leads from this floor to the one above. A series of line offices are secured on the third floor of the building fronting on Hennepin Avenue, and the novel feature is adopted of putting the kitchen one floor above the dining room - on the top floor where the best of ventilation will be secured, and afford the rest of the building an immunity to kitchen smells. This plan follows the one in the elegant passenger station of the Boston and Lowell road in Boston, which has been found to be such a convenience, and to do away with all the kitchen odors so thoroughly, that it meets with universal approval. As the main waiting room, on the floor below is given a greater height that the other rooms on that floor, the upper story is divided into two separate apartments by a large square, the size of the waiting room, which runs up through it. On this floor are seven or eight more offices of convenient size, and all the small rooms necessary to a complete kitchen and cooking rooms. The baggage room building and the depot building proper are to be accessible one to the other only by a bridge on the level of the second floor and underneath the train shed. A passenger arriving in the depot and desiring to see about his baggage, will cross not the tracks, but on this bridge, over the trains. A passenger arriving with his baggage and driven to the baggage room entrance near the river, will be compelled to cross the bridge into the depot before reaching his train. The arrangement has been devised to make it next to impossible to reach the train without going through the wicket, while the utmost freedom between buildings is provided. The building will be finished throughout in oak. It will be heated by steam from boiler rooms in the baggage building. All the space between Bridge Square and opposite First Avenue south, High Street and the river will be occupied by either buildings, train sheds or bridges, covering a total space of about 300x200 feet. A large force of men are employed in the construction of the building, though up to date little has been done on the main part except putting in the foundations which are now complete. The force will be constantly increased on the depot building proper, and Mr. Brodie hopes to be able to turn this building over the company by the early winter. As many as 500 men have been employed upon the work for some months past, and it is being pushed with all possible speed. When completed, all trains except the Milwaukee and St. Paul short line trains will be run from the depot, which promises to be all and more than was promised. An immense amount of money is being expended on the improvements - probably fully half a million - exclusive of the site and the half million invested in the stone arch bridge. The work has progressed as rapidly as could be expected, considering the nature of the site. But the buildings are erected on a bed of rock, and built as substantial as is the ground on which they stand. (Minnesota Daily Tribune, Minneapolis, Monday, August 18, 1884, Page 2)
Some such question may well be asked when looking at the evidences of care, skill and expenditure which are prosecuted by the Union station and its surroundings, which will be thrown open to the public tomorrow for the first time. The true significance of this new station lies first in the face that the Manitoba railway has by its construction recognized Minneapolis as a city of the first class and entitled to every privilege accorded to a metropolitan business center. Second, that in connection with the stone-arch bridge and falls it will produce an impression upon every stranger that comes this way that cannot be other than favorable, and one that will make him unconsciously an advocate of Minneapolis. Last, but by no means least, such structures evince a confidence in the future of the “Flour City” that cannot but gratify very well-wisher of this vigorous and ambitious municipality. An Outside View. The site of the station, while very desirable from a scenic point of view, as well as its position for the convenience of local travel, presented some very difficult problems for the engineers and architects, which it is only just to say have been very effectually and skillfully surmounted. The cost of preparing the approaches and excavations was over $100,000, all of which was expended before one stone was in place. The building proper extends from Bridge square to a point just north of the hay market, and has a frontage of 65 feet on Hennepin avenue and of 296 feet on High street. In form it resembles the letter H, the two brick wings being connected by the arched roof of the train shed, under which a bridge spans the intervening space, affording an overhead passage from the waiting-rooms and ticket office to the baggage department and emigrant waiting-rooms. The main front of the building on High street has a very plain exterior, and while of just architectural proportions and massive simplicity, does not convey, owing to the nature of the ground, a correct idea of the real dimensions of the station. On the river side the building is 80x300 feet, and two stories high. Entering it from Hennepin avenue the first door opens into the emigrant room. The next entrance is that of the ladies’ waiting-room in the main building, after which, at the comer of Hennepin avenue and High street, is the northwest tower, at the base of which is the entrance to the offices, directors’ rooms, etc., that are located upon the third floor. Passing from this entrance along High street, the principal portal is reached, which opens directly into the central waiting-room. At the extreme south comer is another and smaller entrance, intended for the use of the employees in the restaurant connected with the station. At this comer also, is a square tower with a Norman pinnacle. In the northwest tower, a clock, constructed by the Ansonia clock company, has been placed. It has illuminated dials, which can be seen at some distance up the avenue, the tower being 135 feet in height. The material of the front and facings is the Anderson pressed brick, while Chaska brick are used in other parts of the structure. The shed which connects the two buildings is 120x312 feet, and is 60 feet high from track to ventilators. The roof and supports are all of wrought and grooved iron, and designed to combine the utmost strength and lightness of weight. The Interior. The traveler alighting from a train, if an emigrant, is directed to the river side building, where are arranged on the second floor emigrants’ rooms, lavatory and closets and sick room, where an emigrant, who has fallen sick on the way to his destination, can have attention until removed. On the first floor of this building is the baggage department and express rooms. At the south end is the heating apparatus for the entire station. If the passenger is traveling as first-class he will, when alighting from the train, turn through the iron gates on the High street side and enter the lower waiting room, which is 60x120 feet. Here also will be found an excellent lunch counter, barber shop, water closet, etc. A ticket office for the short line business particularly is also located in this room. South of this along the track will be found the business quarters of the depot officials. Going from the lower waiting-room to the street level, two handsome stairways twenty feet in width lead up and into the grand waiting room, the largest west of the Mississippi. This room is one of the finest specimens of simplicity and elegance in design and decoration that can be found in any public building in America; 60x120 in dimensions, 40 feet from floor to ceiling, paneled in finely carved oak, with a superimposed dado of exquisite tile work and cream tinted rough finish walls, it is at once a model of comfort and artistic excellence. Near the center of the north wall a magnificent open fireplace of gigantic proportions, constructed of pressed brick and terra cotta. Beyond this and connecting by an archway is the ladies’ waiting-room, finished in a similar manner, but smaller, being only 60x60. Connected with this are the toilet-rooms, etc. Immediately in the rear of the waiting-room, and overlooking the river and falls, is the dining-hall, 40x80 feet in extent, finished in the same general style as the waiting-rooms. From its northern extremity, an arched door leads into the central waiting room, and to the rear of a lunch counter, 40 feet in length. On the right of the dining hall is a finely fitted and furnished wineroom on the buffet plan, and next to it the private office of Mr. Eugene Mehl, the well-known caterer, formerly of the Brevoort house, New York, who has taken charge of the restaurant and hotel department of the station. A commodious pantry comes next, with which the kitchen above stairs is connected by dumb waiters. Everything in this, as in the other departments, has been fitted up without regard to expense, and with an intelligent appreciation of the needs of the traveling public. The General Effect. Looking over the building and examining it closely an hundred minor details may be remarked, which, not striking and peculiar in themselves, yet show how wonderfully well everything was planned in regard to the station, and how perfectly the designs have been carried out. From the tracks to the tower, from the news-stands to the general offices of the station, nothing has been omitted. Nothing is out of place, or attracts attention by gaudy display or ill-devised ornamentation. The building will be illuminated for the first time tonight, and its electric lights will show one of the best-designed, best-constructed, and most perfectly-appointed railway stations in the world. The Union station was planned by, and built under the supervision of Mr. James Brodie, master builder of the Manitoba road, and it is a monument to his patience and genius, of which he may well be proud. The officials in charge are: Superintendent, H. V. Dougan; ticket agent, H. L. Martin; assistants, E. D. Rockwell, G. F. Telfor, C. M. Joy; depot master, E. L. Rockwood; depot agent, Charles Thompson; baggage master, C. S. Cleveland; gate keepers, Frank and Charles Stayner; operator, L. R. Wakeman. (Minnesota Daily Tribune, Minneapolis, Sunday, April 26, 1885, Page 5)
The New Union Depot Opened. Yesterday was altogether a bad day for anything and consequently was inauspicious for the opening of the new Union depot, nevertheless the event came off “as per advertisement.” The doors were thrown open and passengers streamed in and out of the new building all day. There was no ceremony attendant upon the opening, but Superintendent Dougan stood ready to show off the new station and do the honors in such other ways as were required. (St. Paul Daily Globe, Tuesday Morning, April 28, 1885, Page 3)
They (Strobach & Greiner, Chaska brick) furnished the Tribune building with 800,000 brick, the Minneapolis Union depot with 2,000,000, and the Ryan hotel with 1,000,000. (The Weekly Valley Herald, Thursday, May 28, 1885, Page 4)
The (Minneapolis) union depot building in its control opened for business April 27, 1885, is 294x65 feet; baggage room 268x30; sheds 294x25; cost $350,000. The property is on Hennepin avenue and High street and the Mississippi river. There are six tracks inside the building and three in the yards. In the summer time about 100 trains, local and through, daily pass through the depot. (St. Paul Daily Globe, Friday Morning, December 25, 1885, Page 5)