The Düsseldorf municipal tramway has been operating the inner-city lines in the city since July 1, 1901 - after completion of the electrification of the last horse-drawn streetcar lines on June 21, 1900.

Population growth at the beginning of the 20th century necessitated the expansion of the streetcar network and the procurement of new vehicles. After the Grafenberg depot in the east of the city went into operation in 1903, it was also necessary to build a large modern depot on the southern edge of the city.

In 1908, the first seven-track, approx. 75 m long wagon hall of the Himmelgeist depot (today: Am Steinberg) was put into operation on a spacious plot of land on Himmelgeister Straße. This includes operating rooms and a two-track storage shed for salt and blasting wagons. It was connected via a single-track access road from Himmelgeister Straße to the (Innenstadt -) Bilker Bahnhof - Krankenanstalten - Stoffeln streetcar line of Line 1. The street Am Steinberg in the location of the access road was being planned at this time.

The hall was designed by the Düsseldorf architect Kordt in a light reinforced concrete construction reminiscent of a sacred building. The construction company Dücker und Cie, Betonbaugesellschaft mbH realized the design.

As early as 1911, the first hall was significantly expanded to provide space for additional vehicles, as was already envisaged by the location of the first hall on the site. On the southern side of the first hall, a 128-meter-long four-track car hall (today: wash hall) and another 128-meter-long car hall, also with seven tracks (today: storage hall), were added. These two halls have been listed as historic monuments since 1996. This resulted in a symmetrical ensemble of the 7+4+7 track halls.

At the entrance, which in the meantime is connected to Himmelgeister Straße by two tracks, there is a five-story residential building with service rooms and apartments for the employees of the municipal tramway.

Presumably, the one-sided access road is changed in connection with the expansion around 1913. The halls are also connected from the west (Merowinger Strasse), so that there is a passageway for the trains and operations are considerably simplified.

In 1922, the Rheinische Bahngesellschaft - colloquially: Rheinbahn - leases the municipal tramway and thus also the Himmelgeist depot. (It was not until December 15, 1936 that the Düsseldorf tramway became the property of the Rheinbahn).

In 1928, the depot is extended by a six-track stump hall (without through passage).

Plans from this time, which, however, were not realized, show that the entire switch apron on the western side was to be roofed over.

As early as 1912, a later extension of the first hall to 128 m was also planned. However, this was initially opposed by the workshop that had already been set up in the rear area of the hall. Due to the increasing use of buses, new parking facilities were also needed for these from the 1930s onwards and the first hall was initially used for this purpose on a provisional basis. In 1936, this hall was then converted for buses and an extension to 128 m was built with a bus workshop. The streetcar workshop moved to the rear part of the 1928 hall.

Thus, with the exception of a few outbuildings, the current state of construction of the Am Steinberg depot exists.

Fortunately, the architecturally interesting halls were not destroyed during the Second World War. Only the facade on the eastern side had to be rebuilt.

The halls of the bus depot have been owned by the city since the transfer of bus operations to the Lierenfeld depot and are used by the Düsseldorf carnival for the construction of floats for the Shrove Monday procession.

The workshop hall, the installation hall and the wash hall will be in operation until mid-2011. The last high-floor streetcars of the Rheinbahn GT8 + B4 and GT8S will be operated from there. The last exit of regular service vehicles will take place on June 11, 2011. Likewise, the operable historical vehicles of the Rheinbahn are stationed there and will be moved to the Lierenfeld depot at the end of regular service.

After almost four years of silence in the depot, the first Rheinbahn vintage vehicles will return to Steinberg on December 19 and 20, 2015. After the sale of the site, which had already been decided, was halted in August 2015, the Lierenfeld and Heerdt depots are to be relieved. These urgently need parking areas for rail vehicles for smooth operations and the expansion of local public transportation and quality improvement desired by politicians.