Inside the Como Shops complex of the Northern Pacific Railway, located just south of Como Park in the St. Paul Midway, 1948. A railroad crane is parked next to the powerhouse building. Photographed by the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press.
St. Paul’s Como Shops served as a major passenger-car repair facility on the Northern Pacific railroad between 1885 and the 1970s, providing employment to many St. Paul residents. The durability of the shops’ construction guaranteed their longevity, and in 1985 the facility was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.