The station was extensively renovated in 1946, adding a restaurant, fluorescent lighting, a baggage room, train gates and other updated amenities.

Urban renewal in the 1950s saw the construction of Cobo Hall to the south of the station, and the tunneling of the Lodge Freeway beneath the railway tracks.

However, due to dwindling ridership, and with the founding of Amtrak,[4] the station closed April 30, 1971, and despite the attempts of preservationists to repurpose the building, was demolished in January 1974.

[1][4] The depot was built in the Romanesque Revival architectural style by architect James Stewart, a follower of Henry Hobson Richardson.

Ross and Carlin mention it proudly as 'an ornament to the city' in their Landmarks of Detroit, published before the turn of the century.