All Aboard to Save Northelds Depot! to Red Wing. Tis rail line was called the Cannon Valley Line of the Minnesota Cen- tral Railroad Company, later the Chicago Great Western. Te depot in Northfeld that serviced this line was located a block away from the cur- rent 1888 station. Between 1888 and 1889 the construction on the 1888 railway depot was com- pleted where it is today and it became the predominant passenger depot in North- feld. In 1969 passenger trains stopped making stops in Northfeld and all train trafc began to be strictly agricultural, and coal/oil carriers, which is all of the trafc found traveling through town today. Te depot was retired for good on October 22, 1981. In 2008, a group of citizens learned that the 1888 depot was scheduled for demolition. Te railroad had even ofered the depot to the city fre department for frefghting practice. Save the Northfeld Depot was formed in 2010 with the aim to salvage and rejuvenate the 1888 depot and move the existing depot to a new location just north along the tracks behind the Quarterback Club Restaurant where it currently lies. Input at public meetings held by the organization indicated that the depot complex should be multi-use, including information for visitors with possible exhibits of the history of the railroads as well as the work of local artists. Te current situation for the Save the Northfeld Depot project is one of making plans for the move and fundraising. Te project is moving forward with current fundraising at $119,000 raised out of the total $293,000 needed to move and renovate the depot. Rob Martin, co-chair of Save the Northfeld Depot, explains that the recent MnDOT decision not to extend the deadline for grant funds to clean the land for the city transit hub will not critically afect the success of the depot portion of the vision. Te plans were to co-locate the depot and the transit hub on the same lot; the grant funds were for the transit hub and not the depot por- tion. Te completed project will be a grand way to fnally memorialize the long history of the railroads in Northfeld and all the depots which once served the town. Te preserved and renewed 1888 depot can then serve visitors and residents of the Northfeld community once more. For more information, go to northfelddepot.org. Donations can be made online or sent to Save the Depot, Treasurer, 712 4th Street E., Northfeld, Mn. 55057. by Mitchell Rennie Northfelds train depot that currently sits just south of 3rd Street West near the tracks is the last existing depot of Northfelds long railroad history. Tis depot, known as the 1888 Milwaukee depot, was not the only one to serve the city of Northfeld. In fact, over the years as rail lines came and went and diferent railroad companies purchased and sold rail lines, there were a total of fve train depots in town. Tese depots served both the agricultural needs of the surrounding countryside and the personal transporta- tion needs to cities around the region and the Midwest. Te frst depot to be built in Northfeld was a small shed south of 3rd St. W. constructed in 1865 by the Milwaukee Railroad. Te second Milwaukee depot (1870) and its associated grain elevator were also located south of 3rd St. W. A third depot (1883) came to town along with a new set of tracks that ran from Northfeld and search depot. Or go to ! " # $ % Mail your check to: Clark Webster, Treasurer 712 4tb St. Last, Nortbelo, MN 55057 OR go to www.northBelddepot.org and click the donate button. This Northeld Depot, also known as the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Depot, dates back to 1888 and is the object of a Save the Northeld Depot campaign. Circa 1890 photo courtesy of the St. Olaf Archives.