Great Northern Railroad Depot

The empire builder known as James Hill, had a dream, a dream that would eventually become a reality. At 18 years old Hill left home to seek a job on a merchant ship. The prospect of working on a merchant ship wouldn’t happen, but this did not deter him from his path. He found his first job as a shipping clerk for a steamboat company. As the state of Minnesota was in search of a railroad and was acquiring the necessary charters Hill was watching closely. In 1878, Hill finally got his first taste of the railroad industry as he acquired St. Paul & Pacific and the First Division railroads. It was 1989 the same year that the Grand Forks Depot undertook construction that he changed the name of his company to The Great Northern Railroad. From this point on the “empire builder” never wavered from expanding his empire until his partial retirement in 1907. He was said to have said these words after retirement,

"Most men who have really lived have had, in some shape, their great adventure. This railway is mine."

When the depot was set to be designed in 1891 James Hill enlisted the help of architect Cass Gilbert. Gilbert was born in Ohio and from an early age possessed a niche for architecture. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a year and got the start of his career at the highly regarded New York City architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White. In 1886 Hill began construction on the St. Paul capitol building which gained him national recognition and caught the eye of James J. Hill. His work on the Grand Forks depot featured a two-story building featuring stone walls with mitered corners. Perhaps the most striking feature he included was the central clock tower capped with a pyramidal roof. It is said he took inspiration from the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The Grand Forks depot was modified throughout, but never lost remnants of Gilbert’s original style.

The city of Grand Forks was incorporated as a town in 1881 and Alexander Griggs is widely known as its “father.” The Great Northern railroad reached Grand Forks a year prior in 1880, and the railway depot would be completed 12 years later in 1892. The early settlers of Grand Forks consisted primarily of farmers. Prior to the arrival of the railroad. Grand Forks contained buildings mainly designed using wood. It wasn’t until the railroad passed through Grand Forks that the town saw an influx of merchants and working-class professionals. In addition to a new class of people, the old wood buildings were replaced with the modern brick buildings prominent of the time period. With James Hill now invested in the town farming was also saw a boom. Hill did many great things for farmers which included giving away livestock, introducing new technology, and building branches to connect to other small towns.

As you drive through Grand Forks today there is still a chance you will be stopped by a passing train. The presence of the railroad industry still stands strong in Grand Forks today. Although the Great Northern has since been bought out and renamed its influence will always be noticed with Grand Forks. Without leaders of the time like James Hill, many small cities would never have gotten the boost they so desperately needed. The depot today shows very little of its original self, but in its time it was a monumental piece to a growing city.

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