Stop 12: Northern Pacific Railroad Depot – 701 Main Avenue (National Register)
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Cass Gilbert, who was also the architect for the Minnesota State Capitol, designed this Richardsonian Romanesque style depot in 1898, and it was completed in 1900.
The walls are dark-colored St. Louis pressed brick with Lake Superior brownstone trim and a red tile roof. Note the arched windows and deeply overhung hipped roof with bracketed supports. The depot was listed in the National Register in 1975.
The Northern Pacific was the first railway to go through Fargo, and the only one whose main route went through the town. The Great Northern Railroad track was a spur of the main line.
The railroad passed through the town in 1872, before its financial collapse caused the Panic of 1873. When the railroad reorganized and began rebuilding in 1879, Fargo started to prosper.
Fargo remained pivotal to the Northern Pacific when it reached the West Coast in 1883. Fargo became a divisional headquarters for the railroad, a position that spurred much construction, notably the famous Headquarters Hotel, which survived the fire of 1893, only to be destroyed by another fire in 1899.