Aberdeen, SD (2016)
AIA SD Merit Award in Historic Preservation/Adaptive Reuse
Circa 2015, this historic Minneapolis & St. Louis train depot was in bad shape. Walls were falling down. There were pigeons inside. We fixed it up and moved in.
When the Minneapolis & St. Louis Depot was built on South Main back in 1907, it served Aberdeen along with four other depots, moving people and cargo across the High Plains. The station sent its last passenger train in 1949.
Then, in the late 1960s, the Mack brothers turned the station into a live music bar. The Depot Club and other iterations of it enjoyed a run of success, serving up 3.2 beers and funk to Northern State University students. Lots of bands played there. Enough that it was recently inducted into the SD Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a performance venue.
The building changed hands often in the 70s, 80s and 90s and suffered as a result. Basically everything needed work when we stepped in. Walls, windows, masonry, roof – you name it.
Today it’s home to our Aberdeen office and a financial advisor’s office. And we’re sort of in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
