The Clinton Depot is a historic Milwaukee Road railway station on Main Street, built in 1885 and now operating as a local history museum. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 31, 1986.

History

The Railroad Comes to Clinton

In 1883, the Fargo and Southern Railroad built a loading platform two miles south of Clinton at a stop called Rupert. Two years later, the station was relocated to Clinton itself. The Fargo and Southern line ran from Ortonville to the South Dakota state line near Wheaton, passing through Clinton in 1884. The first train traveled the line on July 2, 1884.

In 1885, the Fargo and Southern was sold to the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad — the Milwaukee Road. From 1885 through the late 1920s, four trains stopped at the Clinton depot each day: a morning freight and passenger train northbound for Fargo, an afternoon southbound train, and an evening southbound passenger train.

Western Union Telegraph Office

A sign at the depot read “Western Union Telegraph Office” — the railroads carried not just freight, mail, and passengers, but also news. Depot agents were necessarily trained telegraphers, handling railroad communications and relaying personal and business messages for the public. Until the late 1940s, telegrams were the fastest means of long-distance communication.

J.P. Pratt became the Clinton depot agent in 1891. He had driven a streetcar in St. Paul before learning telegraphy. Frank Petrick — who learned Morse code and the telegraph from Mr. Pratt — succeeded him as depot agent in 1901 and served, with one year off in 1908, until he retired in 1945. As freight business grew, Frank’s wife Alice Condit Petrick joined as depot assistant from 1909 to 1934. A.L. Makinster took over the position in 1945 and held it until 1969.

Decline and Closure

Sunday passenger service was discontinued in May 1930, and after 1932 a freight train with a single passenger coach provided mixed service until 1956. On December 16, 1968, the Milwaukee Road discontinued passenger trains 15 and 16 — the unnamed remnant of the Olympian Hiawatha that had connected Chicago to Tacoma, Washington. The Clinton depot closed December 12, 1969.

The line itself was discontinued on March 1, 1980, and the track was removed a year later. By that time, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad was bankrupt, and the line’s survival had depended on heavy subsidies.

A Second Life as a Museum

Today the Clinton Depot serves as a local history museum. The interior preserves its original hardwood floors and decorative wainscoting, with the building’s three original rooms still intact: the waiting room at the north end, the agent’s office in the middle, and the freight room at the south end. Exhibits include military memorabilia, farm and agriculture displays, train artifacts, and a collection of photos, posters, newspapers, and historical items chronicling Clinton’s past.

Visiting

Source: Wikipedia, “Clinton station (Minnesota),” from the National Register of Historic Places nomination and historical records.