The progress being made on restoring Minot’s Amtrak depot is certainly good to see.
The work is coming along nicely and should be finished sometime this year.
The project is an important one for a number of reasons. Foremost, the depot was historically, and to a certain extent today, is the city’s front door. Literally thousands of people have had their first and only glimpse of the city while passing through Minot by rail. Fixing up the depot shows to the visiting public that the Magic City doesn’t lack self-esteem.
Helping to maintain the property, which the city doesn’t even own, should also say a lot to the folks at Amtrak, and Congress, both which have more than once raised doubts about the need for and economic sense of sustaining passenger rail service across the northern tier of the country. Again, the upgrades demonstrate in no small way that Minot cares and that we have done our part.
Finally, restoring the depot to closely resemble what it looked like when it was built in 1905 is testament to the fact that Minot does, after all, relish its rich history and preserves brick and mortar when it makes good sense.
The committee responsible for the restoration, which is chaired by Dr. Dennis Lutz of Minot, deserves our thanks.
