The historic Livingston Depot was built in 1902 as the Northern Pacific Railroad's original launching point for travel to Yellowstone National Park. Today it's a thriving museum and vibrant community center.
The Depot wears two hats. We're a great museum from typically mid-May to mid-September with historic exhibits and cultural programs, and the rest of the year we serve as an affordable but classy community center and events venue for area residents and visitors. We've hosted holiday events, historic talks, film festivals, conferences and movies on the lawn, jazz and blues concerts, swap meets for rail enthusiasts, the Depot Festival of the Arts, and more. A museum with rail traffic passing right out front daily, or a venue for a couple to tie the knot in a beautiful NP station - how cool is that?
It's a rich history. Although the NP first introduced service to the Park through Livingston in 1883, the third Depot, completed in 1902, reflected the apex of a busy and graceful age. It was designed by Reed & Stem, the original architects for New York City's Grand Central Station, to be a worthy showcase. Its majestic colonnade and ornate architectural detail greeted rail travelers until 1979, when AMTRAK suspended passenger service to southern Montana. The Burlington Northern, the successor to the NP, briefly used it for offices until donating it to the City of Livingston in 1985. Two years and a thorough restoration later, the Depot Center opened under oversight of the the Livingston Depot Foundation, a member-based non-profit dedicated to preserving this monument to the area's rich past in ongoing service into the future.
The Depot is a lively intersection of past and present in the heart of downtown Livingston, adjacent to Depot Rotary Park and live train traffic. Read more about us on this site - how to get here, what events are around the corner, modern and historic photos, all kinds of things.
History, culture, arts, and more - with train whistles and the Northern Rockies for a backdrop!
It's a rich history. Although the NP first introduced service to the Park through Livingston in 1883, the third Depot, completed in 1902, reflected the apex of a busy and graceful age. It was designed by Reed & Stem, the original architects for New York City's Grand Central Station, to be a worthy showcase. Its majestic colonnade and ornate architectural detail greeted rail travelers until 1979, when AMTRAK suspended passenger service to southern Montana. The Burlington Northern, the successor to the NP, briefly used it for offices until donating it to the City of Livingston in 1985. Two years and a thorough restoration later, the Depot Center opened under oversight of the the Livingston Depot Foundation, a member-based non-profit dedicated to preserving this monument to the area's rich past in ongoing service into the future.
The Depot is a lively intersection of past and present in the heart of downtown Livingston, adjacent to Depot Rotary Park and live train traffic. Read more about us on this site - how to get here, what events are around the corner, modern and historic photos, all kinds of things.
History, culture, arts, and more - with train whistles and the Northern Rockies for a backdrop!
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PLAN YOUR VISIT
Visit Us |
The Depot is the architectural anchor of downtown Livingston and easy to find. Take any Livingston exit off I-90 and head into town. We're a large brick building to the north side of Park Street along the tracks, just east of Depot Rotary Park and directly across from the Murray at Second Street, with our own parking lot along the park.
The museum will be open in 2021 Mon-Sat 10-5 (though closed Sundays this year; we'll open May 8 and close probably sometime around mid-September). Our friends at the Model Railroad Club are normally open for visits Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7:30 as well as during the summer from 1 to 4 on Thursday afternoons. During the winter the Depot becomes a community event space as described above (office hours usually M-F 10-5). Find out more about upcoming happenings or how to host your own memorable event here. |
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Our Mission
The Livingston Depot Foundation is a non-profit organization committed to enriching the lives of residents of Livingston and surrounding, communities, and tourists to the Yellowstone area by (1) restoring, preserving and protecting the historic Northern Pacific depot, now a community cultural center--The Livingston Depot Center; (2) presenting and promoting the visual and performing arts, culture, history of the Yellowstone Region, and educational programs in the arts and humanities; and (3) promoting community involvement, tourism and economic development through the operation and use of the Livingston Depot Center