The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-06
The New Depot Project.

| ton fer change or addition to the bus
mess facilities of st. Paul that evoked
! such universal commentator as the
| project first brought to the attention
! of the public by The G o b e one week
ago today, of building a new union de-
! pot at Seventh and Kittson streets. We
believe that every merchant in ST. Paul
doing a business of any size not only
| indorses this plan, but greets it with
| hearty enthusiasm. We also believe
that its realization will mean more
| for the growth of the city and its mate
rial Improvement than even its most
sapguine supporters realize.
We shall never be able to estimate
what We have lost in the past by the
unfortunate arrangement, in business
sense, for getting entrance by rail into
! the city The topography of st. Paul
is such that there are but a few ave-
| nues through which railroads can APP
| rroach the business center without a
| heavy outlay of money. This has ne
cessitated the utilization of ev-
cry inch of space available for
railroad purposes. In the general
gers has gone to the wall. Our arrange
ments for receiving and discharging
| freight are wonderfully complete, con-
sidering the contracted area within
which the business must be done. The
disposition of passenger traffic is still
| to be made what it ought to be, and
what it is in more favored cities.
The union depot remains stuck down
in the, mudhole where it was placed
| when the railroad traffic of the city
was inconsiderable, and when it was
| deemed indispensable that the central
/ depot and the steamboat levee should
be side by side. We have grown away
from all that now, and the result is
| that our union depot arrangements are
a perpetual injury to our business. 1t
is estimated conservatively that there
are probably fifty persons and upwards
who spend several hours daily in
the union depot waiting to make train
| connections without seeing anything of
| St Paul. Being entire strangers, they
see nothing when they approach the
! depot doors but railroad tracks, the
i stretch of the Mississippi and. some
narrow and uninviting streets and al
| leyWayS. They do not care to venture
out among cabs and omnibuses and
| drays to explore the unpleasing quarter
of the town in which they find them
selves. For all that they know, they
may have to walk miles before they
reach the shops and residences, and no
| street car line is in sight.
We, who know how inconvenent it
| is to ourselves to have no street rail-
way connection with the union depot,
! fail to realize what complete embargo
| this places upon the stranger who is
! merely passing through st. Paul, who
! does not have to leave the passenger
station unless he wants to and who is
not going to inconvenience himself for
| the sake Of doubtful pleasure. Place
the passenger depot on a principal
street, with cars running past the door
and a vista of business streets ard
overlooking heights crowded with resi-
dences in full view, and the beauties of
ST. Paul would be chanted by thou
! sands annually who now know nothing
of them, and purchases to the amount
of thousands of dollars more would be
made by tourist shoppers who now
leave not a cent behind them. This is
the way the business man and the ar
dent citizen of st. Paul looks at the
question.
We understand perfectly that it has
to be regarded in a more serious light
from the railroad mans point of view
A change like this would involve a
largo aYpen6it,Ira of money O,,r 10 i'll
! roads are not reveling in such extrava-
CANT profits that they can afford to
make great OUTLAWS simply to please
the public. 1t would also require a large
readjustment of interests to offer to all
| the companies using the present depot
! equal facilities and privileges if the
! passenger station were removed to the
Seventh street intersection of the ra-
vine. We do think, however, that far
sighted and intelligent self-interest
/ would convince them that this is for
their own benefit in the long run. Large
changes will have to be made in the
present union depot to make it tolera-
! BILE; and, even then, it will be a poor
! job, requiring constant expenditure
from year to year to fit it even pas
SADLY for the demands of business.
Would it not be a profitable in
vestment, eventually, for the roads
! themselves to turn over the present
depot to freight uses. for which it is
| so urgently needed, and to come to-
! gether for the construction of a sta
/ ton worthy of st. Paul and its BUSH
| ness, on a site designated practically
| by common consent? We believe that
it would, and we know that it would
! be great thing for st. Paul