Welcome to the Bismarck Rail Depot! The Northern Pacific Railway built Bismarck's rail depot in 1901, following the Great Fire of 1898 that had consumed so many of the structures in and around the downtown district. Most of Bismarck's commercial buildings had been built of wood, and fires were sadly quite common events. The railway had used the Sheridan House Hotel as their depot, but moved the hotel in 1900, allowing room to build the current depot.

Towns across the country took immense pride in the depots built by the various railway companies. The railroads were an integral part of helping a community survive and thrive, delivering new immigrants to settle there, keeping all supplied with goods, and providing regular passenger service. A depot would usually be the first place seen by newcomers, and its appearance served to showcase the aspirations of an area. First impressions always matter.

Bismarck's Spanish mission style depot was designed by the well-known Minneapolis firm of Reed and Stem and cost $33,601 by the time it was completed in late 1901. The editor of the Mandan Pioneer was among many who waxed eloquent about the architectural magnificence of the Northern Pacific Railroad's new depot.

It was, in fact, built of concrete and the exterior walls were faced with crushed marble. The roof was finished with clay tiles. Designed with three principal sections, the two-story center section, flanked with two square towers projects over supporting Tuscan columns to create a covered entry. The main waiting room occupied the east wing and the express room occupied the west wing.

The somewhat unexpected mission style of the building made it memorable to travelers and a source of local pride. And, it was not susceptible to fire. The original domed tower tops were replaced in 1954 with similar clay tile cap peaks. The grounds of the depot that face Main Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Streets were originally fenced and maintained as a publicly accessible park for travelers and townspeople alike to enjoy.

Many important people traveled by train through North Dakota, stopping to visit or to explore the area. Even United States presidents stopped at the depot. On September 10, 1918, an estimated 15,000 people turned out to see President Woodrow Wilson at the depot. In August 1938, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt came in on the railroad with his daughter-in-law and several grandchildren. He came to inspect the WPA works in the region and was accompanied by his faithful assistant, Ms. Marguerite LeHand and other officials.

Rail travel was a convenient and comfortable experience in those days. Towns in the western United States sprang up along the routes laid out by different railroads and depended on those railroads for exporting the commodities of each area, as well as for providing goods and allowing people to move about the country. This mutually dependent relationship altered as the automobile entered the transportation world.

The depot in Bismarck was a bustling hub for passenger traffic from its first days, but this changed by the 1950's. The growing reliability of automobile travel and the vast improvements to the national roads and highways spelled trouble for the railroad industry. The passenger rail service industry declined nationwide, and the railroad company serving Bismarck was reduced in 1975 to non-daily service and was later eliminated by the end of that decade, leaving the beautiful depot to be repurposed for other uses.