Fulda Depot

Fulda Depot. . Fulda's depot, the only surviving Eastlake - style two-story depot in southwestern Minnesota, was built in 1880 just to the southeast of the present location, on a platform between two sets of tracks. Boarding the train and loading freight was therefore an easy task. The Stationmaster and his family lived upstairs. In 1901 it was moved to its current site.

Fulda's first train, coming east from Jackson through Kinbrae arrived on September 7, 1879, on track laid by the Southern Minnesota Railroad Company (later known as the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Company, or the Milwaukee Road, after that the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company). By 1881, tracks ran west through Iona Lake, Chandler, Edgerton, and Pipestone to Flandreau, South Dakota. Fulda was the division point for the Railroad, and had a roundhouse, turntable (built in 1880, re-build 1899), water tank, stockyards and coal bins. By 1901 the roundhouse was shut down when the division point was moved westward.

In 1895, four passenger and four freight trains passed through Fulda daily, with sometimes as many as four extras. Three hotels served travelers at Fulda, and later furnished box lunches when lunch breaks were no longer scheduled. The railroad hauled gravel, livestock, lumber, coal and goods for Fulda's growing retail trade. Some cars served as "exhibit cars" for traveling salesmen --visiting their wares was even an assignment for school children-- and local hotels furnished "sample rooms" to these men.

By the 1920s, growing popularity of automobiles and trucks decreased train use. Passenger service to Fulda ceased in 1963. Mail, grain and livestock freight also declined -- eventually to nothing -- after world war two. In September 1979, the last freight train came, almost 100 years to the day from the first train's arrival at Fulda. In 1980, the tracks were removed.

This marker is dedicated to the Memory of those who built, protected, preserved, and cherished this community..