The Story of Stoughton’s Historic Passenger Depot

Built in 1913, Stoughton’s passenger depot now houses Depot Hill Creative.

By Kara Kasten-Olson, Director of Depot Hill Creative

Before anyone came to Depot Hill Creative for a watercolor class, people came to this building to catch a train. Built in 1913, the passenger depot at 532 E. Main Street served a busy railroad neighborhood, surrounded by warehouses and businesses that helped Stoughton grow.

A working part of town

Railroad tracks were laid through this area around 1860. Stoughton’s first depot, built by 1861, still stands across Main Street from Depot Hill Creative. When the passenger depot opened in 1913, the older building became the freight depot, receiving materials that built, heated, and supplied the city. The surrounding blocks held tobacco and grain warehouses, lumber and coal storage, an icehouse, a brewery, a grist mill, horse stables, and eventually automobile garages.

At one time, at least 15 tobacco warehouses stood in this area. Three remain today, including the large cream-brick warehouse just east of the depot at 524 E. Main Street. The warehouse was built in 1891 on the site of an earlier grain elevator.

Before coming to Depot Hill Creative, I spent much of my career working in Wisconsin agriculture, so the practical side of this history catches my attention. A rail stop gave farmers and businesses a reliable way to move products, receive supplies, and reach customers beyond the immediate area. It also brought people into town. From the 1880s through the 1920s, the railroad helped Stoughton grow as an agricultural and commercial center.

The neighborhood still shows that history. Its buildings follow the tracks and reflect the work that happened here: storing crops, unloading lumber, selling equipment, repairing automobiles, and moving people and goods through the city.

The details still around us

The 1913 passenger depot was built with American Craftsman details that remain visible today. It has broad overhanging eaves, exposed rafters, a projecting horizontal belt course, and stucco exterior walls. These features are easy to pass without noticing. Once someone points them out, the building looks a little different.

A historic view of Stoughton’s passenger depot.

The depot is now a contributing property within the Depot Hill Historic District, which was added to the Wisconsin and National Registers of Historic Places in 2021. The district includes a collection of commercial and industrial buildings constructed between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many of them tied directly to the railroad. For years, many Stoughton residents knew 532 E. Main as the home of the Stoughton Area Chamber of Commerce and Depot Museum. 

The idea for Depot Hill Creative came from John and Cindy Smet. John grew up in Stoughton, and his parents, Quinn and Verna, spent over 50 years here raising their family and contributing to the community. After retiring, Quinn took up watercolor. He spent hours painting, practicing, and learning as he went. That willingness to begin something new later in life helped inspire what John and Cindy wanted to make possible here - a place where people could take a class, have space to work, and learn from other artists. 

Quinn and Verna Smet in 2010.

With support from the Smet Foundation, we opened Depot Hill Creative in the passenger depot in March 2026. These days, you can come here to learn watercolor, piece together a mosaic, make a book by hand, or try something else that catches your eye. I like the thought of someone coming in for a class and finding something they want to keep doing. Quinn had years of painting ahead of him when he picked up a brush after retirement. There’s room here for other people to find their version of that.

I am still learning the building’s history, and I am sure people around Stoughton know pieces of it that never made their way into a property record. If you remember visiting the Depot Museum, working in one of the nearby buildings, or have a family story connected to this part of town, I would love to hear from you.