D.S.S. & A. RAILWAY DEPOT
WEEKLY MINING JOURNAL
May 11, 1901 P. 1 C.1
NEW DEPOT ASSURED, SOUTH SHORE ROAD WILL ERECT IT ON FRONT STREET
PLANS WILL BE HERE SHORTLY, CONSIDERABLE GRADING ON THE SITE COMPLETED
THIS WEEK, IT IS PRESUMED THAT STRUCTURE WILL BE COMMENSURATE WITH
COMPANY'S IMPORTANCE AND CREDIATABLE TO THE CITY.
As is generally understood at this time, Marquette is going to have a
new South Shore Depot this year. The plans and specifications have
yet to be received, so it is now impossible to go into a detailed
description of the proposed new structure, which is to be located on
Front Street, between Main and Spring Streets, on the company's land
which has served the purpose of a yard for many yeare passed. The
grading which has been going on at this point the passed week or
ten days is now complete and the grade has been made level between
Front and Third Streets, whereheretofore there has been a considerable
down grade to Front Street.
The new depot will certainly go up this year, the preliminaries for its
construction being arranged as soon as the plans and specifications are
at hand. Not having these available yesterday, General Manager W.F. Fitch
did not care to say much concerning the proposed structure, although he
stated positively that its erection would procede this season.
The improvment will necessitate the moving of Pickands & company's
coal office, which now occupies a section of the railroad company's land
at the site of the proposed depot. Mr. Fitch was unable to state positively
yesterday what disposition would be made of it, but it is presumed
that it will be placed on some of the company's centrally located downtown
realty.
Questioned as to the authenticity of the report that the cut to the north
of the depot site is to be filled, Mr. Fitch said that there was nothing
in the story and that cut will remain in its present condition.
The grading at the depot site has been completed this week. The grade
at the Front Street front of the company's tract has been raised a
number of feet, the filled ground slanting back to Third Street to a
point where it makes an easy junction with the natual ground level.
The fill was very expensive and a number of construction trains dumped
hundreds of car loads of sand on the site to bring its grade to the
desired level.
There is general satisfaction here at the South Shores manifest intention
to give Marquette a new depot. It has been hoped each season for a number
of years passed that the company would see its clear to repalce the old
structure which has done service for several decades and which
has been and eye saw since days immemorable.
Now that the road intends going ahead with the erection of a new depot
it is presumed that the structure will be commensurate with the companies
dignity and importance and that it will be a credit to the city.
There is a story current that the company does not intend to complete
the new depot this season, but that the conclusion of the work projected
for the immediate furture will see the structure built to a height of
but one story, but so arranged and consturcted that it will be
possible to add more stories and increase its size. This may be the
case,but their can be little doubt that Marquette will fineally get
a handsome and crediatable depot as a result of the South Shores
progressiveness.
The erection of the proposed structure will dress Front Street up
wonderfully. The expanse of unoccupied frontage imbraced in the site
and utilized for yard purposes in the past has left a prominent gap
on this thoroughfare and has detracted largely from its apperance, which
would have been much better had its best side been occupied by a continuous
line of business blocks. The new depot will fill in the gap nicely and
its completion will work a great change in the appearnce of the city's
business district.
GREAT CHANGES
THeir is no question that the location of the depot on Washington Street
would work great changes. A depot, particularly when it is the only one,
in a city of Marquette's size, is an important in directing travel on
the streets. It is an objective point for many people who are
downtown with nothing in particular to do. They get into the habit
of strolling to the trains and they soon gome to natually seek and
frequent the street leading to the depot. Just now front Street has the
haviest traffic of any of the Marquette throughfares. It is believed
that the location of the South Shore depot on Washington Street would
soon change this and that the latter street would shortly be the busiest
of the city. Anyway this how the gentlemen who are endeavoring
to secure the change on the South Shore plans look at it and they, some
of them at least, are backing their opinions with hard money.
This depot question has been gerneally discussed during the past few
days. Many arguments, prop and con, have been submitted relative the
proposed departure form the original plans. Of course opinion is pretty
well divided, it being laregely , if not inherly a matter of location
The business men and property owners on the two streets effected are mainly
concerned and the genral public regards the entire
matter with a lact luster eye, it being, for the most part, indifferne t to
thelocation of the structure as long as it si finallyy built somewhere.
WEEKLY MINING JOURNAL
June 15, 1901 P.1 Co. 5
SITE IN QUESTION,SOUTH SHORE DEPOT MAY GO UP ON WASHINGTON STREET,
MOVEMENT TO THAT END, LOCATION PROPOSED IS AT THE CORNER OF FIFTH,
FRONTAGE OF TWO HUNDRED FEET WOULD COST $10,500 AND EFFORT IS BEING
MADE TO RAISE THE MONEY BY SUBSCRIBUTUION.
Front Street vs. Washington Street with the proposed new Shouth Shore
Depot for a prize--this is the contest which has been waging during
the past few days and which will be finally settled today.
Up to a number days of ago it was suppose that the proposed depot
would be build on the Front Street site which has been prepared for its
reception during the past couple of weeks. It may yet go up there,
but does not alter the fact that a number of Washington street property
owners and business men have made a bold bid for the structure, their
course being actuated by a belief that the location of the depot on
Wqshington Street would tend to greatly inhance the value of their trade
and reality. For a number of days these gentlemen worked without question
or opposition but lately the Front Street business men and property
owners have been bringing pressure to bear on and endeavor to secure the
erection of the new buklding on the site originally chosen for it, or on
teh site of the present depot.
It is proposed by the sponsors of the Washington Street scheme to give
the South shore company the 200-foot frontage comproised in the
Rassmussen, Adams and Winklor lots at the corner of Fifth Street. This
property can be secured for $10,500 and it is proposed to raise this amount
by subscription.
The issue is believed to be indoubt. Over half of the money required
for the purchase of the Washington STreet site has been pledged, but it
is always the last half in cases like the one under discussion, that comes
hard. The gnetlemn interested in securing a depot for Washington Street
do not express themselves as confidant of the outcome of their efforts ,
although thy are still hopeful of the result. On Front Street this same
feeling of uncertainly prevails to a considerable degree, although there is
a fairly well defined belief that the depopt will finally be erected
on the South Shore Property between Main Street and the approcahed
to the recently dismantled ore dock. FAVORS WASHINGTON STREET
The South Shore officals are generally creditied with a preference for
teh Washington Street location and it is said that, in theevent of the
businessmen and property owners on this throughfare being able to turn
over deeds for the three property's it is proposed to incorporate
in the site, they would not hesitate a meiute about changing their
present plans. Assurances to this effect were obtained before the
Washington Street People bestirrred themselves to the ends thta the desired
change might be made.
With the South shore people sentiment does not figure. It is a question
a more ecomonical handling of their trains. This would be obtained by
locating the new depot at the corner of fifthe and Washington Streets,
A site better in many respects than that of the present depot and infinetely
perferable ot that of Front STreet.
In the first place it is nearer the road's roundhosuse then either the
present or proposed new site, this in itself being a destinct advantage
then again it si so located that trains either East or West bound would
run in or out of the depot without any backing or switching. If the new
building is erected on Front Street South of Main its location
will require that every train entering or leaving the city be shunted
into the depot, causing a greater or less loss of time and a greater
expense in handling. This may appear a small item, but it aggregiates
a surpising total in the course of a 12 months' operation of a railroad.
The south shore officials are cognizant of this fact thus favorable attitude
toward the proposed Washington Street site.
DAILY MINING JOURNAL
DECEMBER 28, 1901
MAYBE NEW YEAR'S, NEW PASSANGER STATION SOON TO GO INTO SERVICE
HANDSOME INSIDE AND OUT,INTERIOR ELEBAORATELY FINISHED AND WELL
ADVANCED DOWNSTAIRS, GIVEN OVER ALMOST ENTIRELY TO ONE LARGE WAITING
ROOM, WHILE SECOND STORY IS OCCUPIED BY OFFICES.
It's the expectation and hope of general manager Mr.Fitch that the
[unreadable] "qu asitBe ki espeusitoriaddrestisap@esh@g@r 178 880528£ Ty;thereafter,
at otirewartleshkwbam@plin@MAR%aWR%YSn agg6gg go
de swiswears Mr we & && JP & H£eakt wdlifBAL
M NW&% SM1ialdPaW*aefeLKeli Mi fa%BW'aM"
0 on; en se r .the contarctor fwh6 erected the building is
ownstair portion-- 0 he usionse it 0 100 feet lonG 63
is to star 0 containes a ;ood-wised basement
t fr co tructed
ee,"
has been constructed with the idea of making it strictly modern
and metropolitan. Many of Mr. Fitch's own ideazs, gained in the course
of his long career as a railroad man have been incorporated as the
work progress, with the result that the staion is particulary well
adapted for the especial uses to which it is to be put. Their may be
larger stations in the Lake Country, but there are certainly none
more conviently arranged.
The structure will cost complete,about $25,000, probably a little more.
It is steam-heated and electric-lighted and is provided with ample
water and sewer connections. In demensions, it is 105 feet long by
35 feet in width, is two stories high and containes a good-sized basement
that is mainly uitilzed for the heating plant. The bulilding is constructed
of Port Washington brown sandstone with cut stone trimming, and the
slopping roof is of slate. On all sides of the staion,and projecting
out over the platform, is a 8 foot awning-cons[struction]
to correspond with the stone-which will shield from the rain or the sun.
OFFICERS ON SECOND FLOOR
The second story is given over entirely to the accomodation of departments
of the general supertiedents, assistant superteirdents, train dispatcher
and purchasing agent. The interior finish in this portion of the station
is in Georgia Pine, the floor of hard wood, and the various apart-
ments are well lighted but the numerous windows and by the glass
partitions the offices are already occupied. The suite of two tooms
in the end facing Front Street, house the purchasing agent and his
force. Opening from this apartment and extending along the south
side of the building are the quarters of the superintendent and
assistant comprising five or six rooms, all connecting in each design
for its particular purpose. At the west end of the floor the train
dispacher holds sway and it is here that the trainmen's bulletin
board is located. Along the north side of the building is the hall
or passageway, leading from one of the purchasing agent"s rooms to
the dispatcher's quarters, and onto this several of the superinten-
ent's offices open.
A visit paid Tuesday found all hustle and bustle in this portion of
the station, and it was plainly evident that from Superintendent
Lytledown, the forces in the various departments appreciate the
great change that has taken place in the accommodations. So nicely
is everything arranged, that the work can not but help being accomp-
lished expediously and smoothly than was possible in the dingy and
seattered quarters heretofore occupied.
ONE LARGE WAITING ROOM
With the exception of the ticket office, baggage room,ladies retiring
room, and lavatories, the entire downstairs is given over to one
large waiting room. The feature that firet strikes the visitor is
the elaborate finish, unless perhaps it be the splendld arrangement
of the various apartments. The finish in in natural birch--the great
ceiling beams and all--given with the general scheme of decoration the
large main room and appearance exceedingly pleasant to view and one
that draws out exclamations of surprise. The ceiling are painted green
shading down to a lighter tint of the same color on the walls down as
far as the wainscoting, which is of reddish hue. The wainscotting
used is something new in this part of the country, being of the lin-
crusted walton make and holds prominant place among those features
which go to make the room as pretty as it is. Hardwood is the material
used in the floors. The seats which are stored at the station, ready
to be put into place in rows, correspond with the wood finish and
appearance, and are not only handsome but very comfortable as well;
in the backs of each are stamped the initial of the railroad.
Four public entrances lead from the platform into the waiting room,
two on the north anf two on the south side of the station. On the
south side, projecting out into the main room, is the ticket office,
bay shaped, and containing two windows at which patrons will recieve
attention. To the west, and extending along the end of the build-
ing, is the baggage room from which private doors open onto the platform.
A counter in part separates this apartment from the waiting room, so
that in checking baggage it is but necessary to step to the counter
to have one in this line attended to. It is along side the baggage
room, by the way, that the stairs leading to the second story are
located, the stairs consisting of two flights, running respectively
from either side of the building. The Front street end of the station,
which is bay shaped, is divided into two apartments, one the ladies
retiring room-- where a mother may go to soothe her babe or a lady to
retire for her quiet rest- and the other the ladies toilet room. A
lavatory is provided for the men at the other end of the building
adjoining the baggage compartment.
MATERIAL MUCH DELAYED
The work in progress is the decorXating of the big waiting room,
and the painters are now drawing this to a close. Some of the
radiators are not yet in place, and the bench chairs are still to be
installed, but these features will not require much time and will have
been attended to when the men of the bushes are through. When the
ground was first broken for the station it was the anticipation
that the structure would be completed and ready for occupancy bu the
first of October, but as the work progressed one delay after another,
due mainly to inability to procure material needed, postponed the happy
event until now the handone passenger station may come as a New Year's
gift from the South Shore's genia1 general manager, who more than
anyone else is disappointed that it wasn't possible to put the
structure into commision before this.
When the snow disappears in the Sprijg a star is to be made in the
transformation of the grounds at the station. With the exception of
the driveway at the north side of the station the paved sections at
either end provided for the wagons, and the space taken up by the
tracks, the grounds are to be converted into a pretty park, the work to
be done under the direction of a landscape artist, Trees, shrubbery and
flowers will be put in, the plot will be seeded and Withal it is
proposed to make the place a veritable beauty spot.
An innovation in connection with the station, is the fact that the
passenger cars lying in the yards are heated from the depot steam
plant, the pipes running underground from the basement to the points
at which they are tapped. Water pipes also extend to various portions
of the yards and grounds, and sewer connections are provided as well.
DAYS OF OLD DEPOT NUMBERED.
Exactly what will be the fate of the old depot, has not yet been de-
termined. Mr Fitch realizes as well as any other person that it has
outlived its usefullness and is of no particular ornament to the city,
and apparently it will be demolished in short order after the transfer
to the new quarters is made. As concerna the new station, the pride
taken by Mr. Fitch is pardonable. He had much to do, not only with th e
archetecture and the selection of the materials, but with the general
interior arrangement as well, giving the various features considerable
of his time, and the result is the handsome and conveniently arranged
structure that now stands as a testimonial of his good judgment and
to the progressiveness of the south shore.
The new station is in full keeping with the fair name of "Queen City"
of the Lakes , "and in it every citizen will take justifiable pride."
WEEKLY MINING JOURNAL
January 11, 1902
IS TO OPEN TODAY, NEW PASSANGER NOW TO GO INTO SER ICE, 10:40 O'CLOCK
IS THE HOUR, THAT THE TIME OF ARRIVAL ST. PAUL MORNING TRAIN HANDSOME
FINISH AND THE CONVIENT ARRANGEMENT OF THE ENTIRE OF THE STRUCTURE WILL
BR A PLEASING REVELATION TO THE PUBLIC
After many delays, very anoying to the officals it is now definetely
announced that the new passenger station of the South Shore will be
opened to the public today. The seven o'clock for the Copper-Country;
the Northwestern train arriving; from Chicago at 8:05 and departing at
8:10, and the train levaing £or Duluth and for Chigaco via the St. Paul
at 8:20, will be the last ulitize the odl depot. The new going into
comminsion with the arrival Sf train #10. This is the Saint PUal train
arriving her at 10:40 o'clock this morning, and following it all passagner
trains either arriving or departing from the city will pull in and out
at the handsome new structure.
It is understood that hanger-on will not be allowed to make the station
their headquarters as at times has been the case at the old one. A special
policemen in the employ of the road will be there to preserve order
and to keep all those persons who have no particular business at the
station away from the grounds, and his efforst will be argumented by
teh regular city force.
During the progress of the building operations the new station has been
visisted by a number of citzens, who have bben surpized at the handsome
finish and the convient arrangement of the entior to all those who have
not yet caught a climpse of that is within the walls, the station will
be a pleasing revelation. A transformation such as is offered by the
contrast between the old depot and the new could not well be greater
and the city can with a pride entirely pardonable take on airs on the score
of its atractive new structure.
WEEKLY MINING JOURNAL
April 2, 1904
OLD LANDMARK TO GO, FORMER SOUTH SHORE DEPOT TO BE TORNED DOWN FOR
THE LUMBEAR
A deal has lately been concluded between Mrs. SToll. Arch Street,
and the South Shore company by which Mrs. Stoll comes into posession
of the former South Shore depot on Barraga Avenue, around the corner
from Front, with the understanding that she will tear it down without
delay. The South Shore company this week removed all its material
in storage from the building, and its demolition has alraedy
been statred . It will be compeltely removed in the course of 6 weeks
or two months.
With the passing of the odl depot building the city will lose a land-
mark that has stood for nearly half a centry. The structure was buildt
about the same time as the courthouse, in 1858. It was erected for James
P. Pendill, for the many years a prominent resident of the city, and
was attended for Hotel purposes but had a store or two on the first floor
The contractor was Eusebe Reau, father of J.E.Reau, who also built
the courthouse, the Summit House and other early buildings.
The structure was known fro many years as they Tremont House, and
in the early days, was the most pretentious hotel that the city bosted
It caught all the transicent trade and was during the early years of the
settlement the center of a good daeal of the twons activtely. Many of
the older residents remeber very well when the structure was devoted tto
the hotel business, and many of their pieroneers yaarns center about it
The buliding is best known to latter generations as the South Shore Depot,
having been occuppied for that purpose for about twenty years previous to
the erection of the handsome, sandstone depot now during service. It
was as the south shore depot that people learned to hate the venerable
structure and to wish it all sorts of unkind fates. It had however,
a charmed life. Its dry frame walls and dilapidation seemed to offer
an easy target for fire,and locomotives puffed by it many times a day
For several years, but although it was on fire, numerous times it
seemed to possive peculiar powers of resisting the flames and never
was the seat of a really serious blaze.
Since it was aboned some tow years ago it has bee n used only for the
storage of a little miscelaonous matarial, being to old and delipa ted
to be utilized for any purpose of account. It has been regarede as a
fire menace, and property owners in the neighboorhood are weel
please with the knowledge that it is now to come down.
