The Shops at Gladstone

The Shops at Gladstone. . , The Gladstone Shops were completed in 1888 at over one quarter of a million dollars. An orderly array of rail lines marched across the site paralleling fuel and raw material sheds, maintenance shops, a well, 1800 feet of sewer and a 100-foot smokestack. Shops were steam heated with tall windows and whitewashed interiors spreading ample light throughout the large main buildings., Used for only 28 years the Gladstone Shops built, refit and maintained the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad's engines and cars. This mean upgrading existing equipment and keeping up with railroad improvements. As engines and track grades improved larger capacity cars could be built. With a fleet of nearly 2,500 this was no small task., In its heyday the Shops were a powerful reminder of the prominence railroading had in Minnesota. After 1915 the Shops were shuttered and work moved to the Como and Mississippi Street Shops. Various businesses attempted to repurpose the property and in the late 1940s a 150-foot water tower was added. In the fall of 1979 remaining buildings were completely demolished and the site lay vacant until the City of Maplewood purchased the land from Burlington Northern in 1995., Digging into Shop History , In 2012 Maplewood worked with archaeologists to learn more about what remained underground after the Gladstone Shops were demolished., Archaeo-Physics, LLC used ground penetrating radar to examine underground areas identifying the roundhouse, transfer table and a shop foundation. During site cleanup and restoration efforts Summit Envirosolutions, Inc. conducted archaeological monitoring documenting 37 features including foundations, tracks, the well and buried Shop ruins., Layout of the Shops , By 1903 the railroad maintenance yard had numerous shops in addition to the roundhouse, turn and transfer tables. These included a brass foundry, large machine and erecting shops, blacksmith, tin, paint, wheel and cabinet shops. Beyond the office and storage sheds it also had two sets of privies (bathrooms) on north and south sides of the yard., This map shows the general design, layout and types of shops at Gladstone. The limestone boulders before you mark the southern corners of the Boiler Shop and Erecting Shop.