COUNTYCOUNTY|
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| EXISTING STATIONS | ||||||||
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| Station Name |
Original Railroad | Current Location |
Type | Date Built |
Current Use |
Track Status |
Building Material |
More Info |
| Aitkin |
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20 Pacific Street SW (GPS: 46.531513, -93.707703) |
C | 1916 | Museum | In Use | Brick |
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Aitkin (????) |
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South side of 1st Street (GPS: 46.532195, -93.707534) |
C | ???? | Residence | None | Wood |
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| MCGregor |
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County Road 8 at Mable Avenue (GPS: 46.608328, -93.313084) |
C | 1907 | Business | In Use | Wood | |
| Palisade |
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3 miles SW of town on Great River Rd. (County Road 10). | C | ???? | Residence | None | Wood |
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| Tamarack |
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13856 430th Street, 1 mile Southwest of Tamarack, Just
east of the intersection of 430th and 140th Streets. (GPS: 46.6379 -93.1457) |
C | 1906 | Storage | None | Wood |
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| STATIONS OF THE PAST | ||||||||
| Station Name |
Original Railroad |
Notes | ||||||
| Aitkin |
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The original passenger station here was destroyed by fire in December 1884 (The Sun, 12-4-1884). | ||||||
| Aitkin |
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The second passenger station was on the
west side of Minnesota Avenue on the north side of the tracks at GPS:
46.531798, -93.706931. It was built in 1885 (The Minneapolis Journal, 3-3-1885) and torn down when the new station
was built in 1916. The original freight station was on the east side of Minnesota Avenue on the north side of the tracks at GPS: 46.531827, -93.706299. |
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| Aitkin |
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A new freight station was built in 1897 that mesured 30'x150'. It was on the north side of the tracks on the east side of 1st Avenue NW at GPS: 46.531858, -93.707898. It burned down in August, 1961. | ||||||
| Aitkin |
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The first station here was "a miserable little combination freight and passenger depot, set up on blocks," according to a report in the Aitkin Age of August 16, 1910 (as reprinted in the The Pioneer, 8-18-1910). However, the railroad had not yet finished laying tracks at that time and denied that the building was meant to be the depot. The permanent depot would be built soon after. | ||||||
| Aitkin |
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| Arthyde |
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The station here was a converted boxcar. | ||||||
| Bain |
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| Cedar lake |
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According to the NP Valuation Records of 1917, a 16'x37' combination station was built here in 1897. | ||||||
| Darina |
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This town vanished when the Soo gained trackage rights on the NP between Deerwood and McGregor in the 1920s. | ||||||
| East Lake |
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| Grayling |
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According to the NP Valuation Records of 1917, a 10'x19' passenger station was built here in 1898. | ||||||
| Hill City |
Mississippi, Hill City & Western |
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| Kimberly |
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According to the NP Valuation Records of 1917, a 30'x48' combination passenger station was built here in 1908. | ||||||
| Lansford |
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According to the NP Valuation Records of 1917, a 10'x14' passenger station was built here in 1902. | ||||||
| Lawler |
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| McGrath |
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This station was burned down for fire department practice on October 25, 1984. | ||||||
| McGregor |
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| Rabey |
Mississippi, Hill City & Western |
The station was later moved from its original location to the "Michelson Farm" on River Road not far from where the grade crosses. Does anyone know the fate of this station? | ||||||
| Redtop |
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Top photo shows 2,000 rabbits stacked on the depot platform; bottom photo is of depot. | ||||||
| Rossburg |
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According to the NP Valuation Records of 1917, a 12'x16' passenger station was built here in 1890. | ||||||
| Solana |
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| Shovel Lake |
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| Swatara |
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This station was on the south side of Main Street. | ||||||
| Tamarack |
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| Ude (Portage) |
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This may be the same station as Lansford with a different name. | ||||||
| 1898 AITKIN COUNTY RAILROAD MAP | ||||||||
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Notes About Existing Stations... Aitkin (NP) - See the historical society's web site for more information. Aitkin - ???? (NP) It unclear what this building was, although it appears to be an NP station by the design. The pitch of the roof and corner support matches the original Aitkin NP station, however the original passenger station here was destroyed by fire in December 1884 according to The Sun, 12-4-1884. It's possible that the station never did burn down and was moved instead. The building was not there on the 1892 or 1898 Sanborn maps. It first appears on the 1902 and is on the 1908-1924 maps labeled as "Lime & Cement Warehouse" On the 1928-1950 maps it is moved to it's current location and the building that was east of it was enlarged. The Aitkin musem has a photo of the building from 1966 with the text on the back indicating that it was the Soo station. However, that is incorrect. It couldn't have been THE Aitkin Soo station as it was there prior to the construction of the Soo station station north of town (and both this building and the Soo station stood at the same time). The leading theories are that it was the original NP station (which would make newspaper accounts of its fiery demise untrue) that was turned into a warehouse OR an NP station moved from elsewhere and re-purposed. It could just be a warehouse, but it seems awful depot-like and ornate for such a purpose. The design of the building matches that of the original Wahepton, SD NP station. I am not saying that it was from there, but rather that the design of it is of NP origin. More research is need on this one to verify its origin. Palisade (Soo Line) - The station has been split with the passenger section serving as a house and the freight section serving as a barn. Tamarack (NP) - Is the existing station the same one shown in the historical photos? According to the NP Valuation Records of 1917, the station was built in 1906 with the two-story section measuring 24'x29' and the one story section measuring 24'x30'. The existing building may be the one-story section. This has not been confirmed for sure. |
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