Offices were placed at one end with warehouse space occupying the rest of the building.

The Milwaukee Road built its line from eastern South Dakota to Rapid City in 1906–07.

With the increase of tourists in the late 1910s, the railroad built the freight house.

The design was a modern one, based on other early 20th century commercial buildings.

When The Milwaukee Road went bankrupt and abandoned its lines in South Dakota in 1980, it sold the freight house to local businesses for use as offices.