This impressive Romanesque Revival depot suggests how important railroad transportation was to the growth of Fond du Lac. The city became a terminal on the Chicago and North Western Railway’s route between Green Bay and Sheboygan, and the company’s repair shops and switching station in north Fond du Lac employed many area residents. The railroad constructed this polychromatic depot, with sections for passengers and baggage and express freight, the latter greatly enlarged in 1916. Under a wide roof overhang, supported by oversized knee braces and simple square posts, broad arches punctuate the passenger depot’s walls. Each arch surrounds a doorway crowned by a semi-elliptical transom and flanked by windows whose outer curve follows the line of the arch. The red brick walls contrast with the rock-faced limestone foundation, quoins, and octagonal bay window, which once housed the ticket and telegraph office. The bay extends through the hipped roof as an octagonal brick tower with a tent roof. Originally, as typical for the time, there were separate waiting rooms for women and men. In 1916, reflecting new perceptions of American women, both sexes could wait in the first room, and the second became a smoking room. Frost was a noted depot architect; the depot was built by Grace and Hyde Contractors.