There is a really cool building in Menomonie that I have always been curious about. It is on Wilson Avenue West, down the hill behind the Acoustic Cafe, on the right side of the street. Please help me figure out the history of this building.

Thanks for asking! It's the old Chicago & North Western (C&NW) railroad depot. I'd say it dates from right around 1880: A bond to build the depot passed in 1879, and I'm sure construction began on the heels of the money. Some people call it the "Omaha Depot." Feel free to call it that yourself. From what I understand, the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, and the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway ("Omaha" for short) have a long relationship, which goes something like this: On paper, the CStM&O was a separate company until 1957 when it was merged into the C&NW, but it was a part of "the C&NW family" since about 1890. So I'm thinking that your depot grew up as a North Western, but it was born in Omaha.

The most famous train to pass through these parts was the "400," which ran from 1935 to 1963. Chicago to the Twin Cities in – and this is the important part – 400 minutes (including stops). Works out to about an hour faster than you could drive it today on the modern interstate even with no pee breaks. In later years, the train regularly reached 110 mph en route. Time magazine dubbed it, "The fastest train scheduled on the American Continent." That's what you might call, oh, I don't know, let's coin a phrase here: High-speed rail.
The 400 stopped in Eau Claire, but to deliver its miracle, it flew past smaller stations like Elk Mound and Menomonie. Except that it did stop when the academic term at Menomonie's Stout Institute began or ended. Then, just long enough for a car-full of students to scramble aboard.

Among the reasons the Chicago & North Western didn't make daily stops at Menomonie (I'm not making this up): the depot's decrepit "two-holer" outhouse, one seat for the men, one for the women, a thin partition between.

So Menomonie became a collegiate footnote in the history of the 400. The 400 became a footnote itself, of course – overtaken by jet airliners (the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 filled the skies in the 50s) and the Interstate highway system, which came through the Chippewa Valley in the early 60s. Short-sighted to abandon rail, as we'll discover someday.

I don't know exactly when the railroad abandoned your depot. Some years later, the building housed a feed store (Cenex?). Only a few years (five?) since the last of the rails and ties made discernable tracks alongside the depot, and not much longer since a few switches still stood as frozen tinmen in this brownfield lot. Those things are gone now.

But the depot remains. In fact, the lot still has an address – 621 4th Street West – and an owner, "Piper-Barry Restorations." If I had to take a guess, I'd say that this is not an architectural firm or development conglomerate, but a couple of regular folks. I heard a rumor that the guy who owns the auto shop across the street told another guy that yet another guy, "from Minnesota," who used to be a Stout student, owns the depot and wants to restore it, but doesn't have the money, or the time, or something. I don't doubt that at all.

Got a local question? Send it (17 S. Barstow St.) or email it (mail@volumeone.org) and Frank will answer it!  Frank has lived in Eau Claire for most of the past 43 years. He is an editor and researcher at the Chippewa Valley Museum, which is open all year just beyond the Paul Bunyan Camp Museum in beautiful Carson Park. You should go there.

Among the reasons the Chicago & North Western didn't make daily stops at Menomonie (I'm not making this up): the depot's decrepit "two-holer" outhouse, one seat for the men, one for the women, a thin partition between.

So Menomonie became a collegiate footnote in the history of the 400. The 400 became a footnote itself, of course – overtaken by jet airliners (the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 filled the skies in the 50s) and the Interstate highway system, which came through the Chippewa Valley in the early 60s. Short-sighted to abandon rail, as we'll discover someday.

I don't know exactly when the railroad abandoned your depot. Some years later, the building housed a feed store (Cenex?). Only a few years (five?) since the last of the rails and ties made discernable tracks alongside the depot, and not much longer since a few switches still stood as frozen tinmen in this brownfield lot. Those things are gone now.

But the depot remains. In fact, the lot still has an address – 621 4th Street West – and an owner, "Piper-Barry Restorations." If I had to take a guess, I'd say that this is not an architectural firm or development conglomerate, but a couple of regular folks. I heard a rumor that the guy who owns the auto shop across the street told another guy that yet another guy, "from Minnesota," who used to be a Stout student, owns the depot and wants to restore it, but doesn't have the money, or the time, or something. I don't doubt that at all.