Lake Superior Railroad Museum Celebrates 50 Years

DULUTH, Minn. — The Lake Superior Railroad Museum is celebrating its 50th golden anniversary year.

That means there will be a family free day on Saturday and the lighting of the golden drum head.

The museum was founded in 1973 after 5 people came together with a vision. The vision was to repurpose Duluth’s historic union depot train station into an arts culture and history center. That is exactly what they did.

The Lake Superior Railroad Museum is more than that though, as it hosts many other organizations for events.

“We’re not just a train system, we’re a repurposed historic building, we’re the Minnesota ballet, we’re the St. Louis County Historical Society. We are the Duluth Art Institute, we are the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra, we are the Duluth Art Institute. We are all these individual organizations all under one roof,” said Ken Buehler, Executive Director of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum.

As for the future, the museum hopes to keep maintaining, updating, and investing in the building for the next 50 years and more.

“I’m proud of that this is one of our buildings that we are continuing to maintain and upgrade our vision with all of the tenants inside of it is really a place where the Depot is really our community’s living room,” said Annie Harala, St. Louis County Commissioner. “This is just another part of a chapter of a long future that’s going to happen in St. Louis County and in my district.”

The Lake Superior Railroad Museum’s family free day event is Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.