# Lake Front Depot

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Lake Front Depot The depot as it appeared in the 1890s General information Location 918 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Owned by Chicago and North Western Railway Line Kenosha Subdivision Waukesha Subdivision Shoreline Subdivision History Opened 1889 Closed May 15, 1966 Former services Preceding station Chicago and North Western Railway Following station Butler toward Minneapolis Chicago – Minneapolis via Milwaukee Racine toward Chicago Terminus Milwaukee Division National Avenue toward Chicago National Avenue toward Madison Madison – Milwaukee Terminus Granville toward Ishpeming Ishpeming – Milwaukee Fox Point toward Green Bay Green Bay – Milwaukee via Sheboygan Location

The **Lake Front Depot** was a [train station](/source/Train_station) in [Milwaukee, Wisconsin](/source/Milwaukee%2C_Wisconsin) built in 1889–1890 by the [Chicago and North Western Railway](/source/Chicago_and_North_Western_Railway) (C&NW). It was located near the shore of [Lake Michigan](/source/Lake_Michigan) at the end of East Wisconsin Avenue, by today's [Milwaukee County War Memorial](/source/Milwaukee_County_War_Memorial). The structure was built with stone in the [Romanesque](/source/Richardsonian_Romanesque) style, and had a tall [clock tower](/source/Clock_tower) which reached 234 feet (71 m) high. The depot cost $200,000 ($7.17 million in 2025) to build at the time, and eventually served 98 trains a day.

Chicago and North Western owned the depot until 1964 when [Milwaukee County](/source/Milwaukee_County%2C_Wisconsin) bought the structure and surrounding land for $7 million ($72.7 million in 2025), with the intent to use the land for a freeway. C&NW continued to use the depot until May 15, 1966 when trains were moved to the new Union Station (now the [Milwaukee Intermodal Station](/source/Milwaukee_Intermodal_Station)) after it was built by the [Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad](/source/Chicago%2C_Milwaukee%2C_St._Paul_and_Pacific_Railroad) (Milwaukee Road). The Milwaukee Road had itself vacated its old [Everett Street Depot](/source/Everett_Street_Depot) the previous year.

The Lake Front Depot lasted two more years until 1968. Some efforts were made to save the building from being torn down, but they were unable to raise the needed money. Estimates ranged from $325,000 ($3.01 million in 2025) to restore the structure to $575,000 ($5.32 million in 2025) to move it to another location.[1]

Many of the C&NW's "*400* " trains served this station starting in 1935. In the early days of the *[Twin Cities 400](/source/Twin_Cities_400)*, the [steam locomotives](/source/Steam_locomotive) which pulled the train were exchanged at the Milwaukee station. The engines ran at such high speeds on the route from [Chicago](/source/Chicago%2C_Illinois) to [Minneapolis–Saint Paul](/source/Minneapolis%E2%80%93Saint_Paul) that some components in the drivetrain couldn't withstand the 410-mile (660 km) trip. The railroad eventually got the exchange process down to a very quick five minutes.

Other trains to serve the depot included the *[Flambeau 400](/source/Flambeau_400)*, *[Peninsula 400](/source/Peninsula_400)*, and *[Valley 400](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Valley_400&action=edit&redlink=1)*.[2]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Charlie House (February 2, 1968). ["End of Line in Sight for Towering Depot"](https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Wz0aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DSgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7150%2C598907). *The Milwaukee Journal*. pp. 1, 5 (Accent section). Retrieved February 16, 2010.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-400-story_2-0)** [Scribbins, Jim](/source/Jim_Scribbins) (2008) [1982]. *The 400 Story*. Minneapolis, Minnesota: [University of Minnesota Press](/source/University_of_Minnesota_Press). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8166-5449-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8166-5449-9).

[43°02′20.2″N 87°53′59.0″W / 43.038944°N 87.899722°W / 43.038944; -87.899722](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Lake_Front_Depot&params=43_02_20.2_N_87_53_59.0_W_type:landmark_region:US-WI)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lake Front Depot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Front_Depot) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Front_Depot?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.