The Duluth Depot, a dramatic French Norman-style building with a turreted tower, is now the St. Louis County Heritage and Arts Center — a complex of museums and performance spaces under one historic roof. The depot building was completed in 1892 when Duluth was a booming port city, and the quality of the architecture reflects the ambition of that era.
Inside you will find several distinct museums: the Lake Superior Railroad Museum, with an impressive collection of historic locomotives and rolling stock on the original depot tracks; the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center; a children's museum; and several art galleries. The North Shore Scenic Railroad excursion trains depart from the depot platform, running along the lake shore to the Two Harbors lighthouse.
The building itself is worth the visit — the great waiting room, the ornate tile work, and the overall scale convey the period when rail travel was the primary way Americans moved across the country.