The Milwaukee Railroad Roundhouse is located in the North Riverside Section of Sioux City, along the
east bank of the Big Sioux River, adjacent to lowa Highway 12, with the Loess Hills bordering on the east. Stone State Park is located two miles to the north of the complex.
The Milwaukee Railroad Roundhouse was built by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, & Pacific Railroad in 1917 as a thirty-stall roundhouse, with nine other structures being constructed for a
black smith shop and freight car repair shop, covering approximately 60-acres. In its heyday, this complex cared for an average of thirty-six steam locomotives a day. This work involved the routine maintenance of steam locomotives as well as major overalls for the locomotive fleet. Every known craft, from
brass maker to boilermaker was employed at this complex, with a majority of the employees being Riverside area residents.
Today, the complex covers approximately 31.61-acres of land, a six-stall roundhouse, a machine/blacksmith shop, a car repair building, an engineer's tool shed, and a wood locomotive sanding tower. When the Milwaukee Railroad ceased operations in 1981, a local resident used the complex as a salvage yard, in violation of zoning regulations. In early 1991, the City Council issued a condemnation order, requiring the owner to
clean up the property, or the City would perform the job, possibly demolishing the structures. All structures were in a state of disrepair, and the property was in adversarial ownership.
In May 1991 the City Council included the Roundhouse Complex into the Riverside Conservation and Urban Renewal Plan. Through the summer of 1991, public input meetings were held in Riverside. From these meetings, the Riverside residents named Milwaukee Roundhouse Renovation as one of their top priorities for the Riverside Urban Renewal area.
In July 1995 the City Council passed a resolution granting $135,000 to the
Siouxland Historical Railroad Association for the purchase of the roundhouse complex. With this resolution, the SHRA signed an agreement with the City of Sioux City, stating that the property will be cleaned-up; the structures will be renovated; and that the complex will be operated as an historical site and museum. The Association purchased the roundhouse complex on December 13,1995.
