Arts districts are flourishing in communities across the country and Stoughton is no exception. Over the past several years a number of old structures on East Main Street have been revitalized and repurposed.
Spearheaded by a large investment from the Smet Foundation, the Depot Hill Arts District is well on its way to becoming a coherent, important part of Stoughton’s downtown identity. With all these changes taking place, I thought it might be appropriate to look back at the history of some of the buildings that make up the district.
Let’s start with the Depot itself. The original passenger depot shared a space with the freight depot at 529 East Main Street. Built in 1861 and upgraded in 1885 in the Italianate style it now houses a tattoo shop called the Valkyrie Art Collective. Stoughton’s growth and vitality meant that trains always stopped in town and eventually a separate passenger depot was needed to handle all the traffic…