Minot, ND (MOT)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$2,805,622

Station Ridership

FY 2011

29,179

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The Great Northern Railway depot built in 1905 still serves as Amtrak's stop for Minot. The structure once included an expansive gabled roof and red brick exterior. In 1975, this station underwent major renovations including the removal of the gabled roof (replacing it with a flat roof) and the exterior brick was covered with stucco. The interior was modernized and the original marble floor was covered with a tile popular in the 1970s.

Working since 2003 toward restoring the station, the largely-volunteer Amtrak Depot Restoration Committee for Minot in 2007 secured funding from a federal grant for $290,000 through the North Dakota Department of Transportation to begin the restoration process, as well as received $70,000 from the city and $40,000 from the city council. The total cost of the work was estimated at approximately $750,000 requiring them to scale back original plans to start with only an exterior restoration. On May 10th, 2008, work officially kicked off as part of the National Train Day celebration in Minot. However, before then, the stucco covering had been removed from the original brickwork. Craft Builders of Minot finished erecting a new pitched roof that month. Hight Construction also began to put a new brick exterior covering the existing structure, which was not in good enough condition to withstand the weather, as well as installing new windows. The expense totaled nearly $440,000. By November, 2008, the exterior work had been largely completed.

The city received $400,000 in federal stimulus funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the interior work can now begin. The restrooms will be modernized and made accessible, the lobby will be enlarged and made to look the way it did a century ago, and new seating will be installed.   A decade's worth of work and planning should come to an end in 2010.

Minot, located on the Drift Prairie of north-central North Dakota on the Souris River, is the seat of Ward County, and is the fourth largest city in North Dakota. In 1886, as James J. Hill’s Great Northern Railroad (now part of BNSF) ended its westward push for the winter, a tent town sprang up overnight on the site where the railroad workers camped. The suddenness of its appearance earned the town it’s moniker of “The Magic City.” The railroad chose the town site to be on land owned by then-homesteader Erik Ramstad, who relinquished his claim but later became one of the city leaders. The town was named after Henry D. Minot, a railroad investor and friend of Hill’s, and the city was incorporated on June 28, 1887.

The Soo Line Railroad later built a line up from Valley City to Canada, crossing at Minot in 1893. The Soo Line station in Minot still stands, and has been on the National Register of Historical Places since 1978.

During Prohibition, Minot was nicknamed, “Little Chicago,” as it was a central hub of Al Capone’s liquor-smuggling operations. Parts of the tunnels through which the smugglers transported their goods can still be accessed.

In the 1950s, federal funding built an Air Force base near the city, Minot Air Force Base, and the Garrison Dam on the Missouri River, about 50 miles south of Minot. Minot Air Force Base is home to the 5th Bomb Wing and its squadron of B-52H Stratofortress bombers. Minot AFB is also home to the 91st Missile Wing.

Minot’s Midwestern setting and laid-back attitude sometimes hides its sizeable arts community: the city can boast an art museum, a symphony orchestra, an opera company, several dance and theater troops, and much more. Nearly 40% of the city’s residents are of Scandinavian descent, and not only does the city have a Scandinavian Heritage Park, but every October since 1977, Minot has hosted the Norsk Høstfest, North America’s largest Scandinavian-American festival. The North Dakota State Fair is also held every summer in Minot.

This facility has a waiting room and is staffed by an Amtrak employee.

The Minot station is served daily by two trains.