AITKIN COUNTY

EXISTING STATIONS
Untitled 1
Station Name	Original Railroad	Current Location	Type	Date Built	Current Use	Track Status	Building Material	More Info
Aitkin		20 Pacific Street SW (GPS: 46.531513, -93.707703)	C	1916	Museum	In Use	Brick
Aitkin (????)		South side of 1st Street (GPS: 46.532195, -93.707534)	C	????	Residence	None	Wood
MCGregor		County Road 8 at Mable Avenue (GPS: 46.608328, -93.313084)	C	1907	Business	In Use	Wood
Palisade		3 miles SW of town on Great River Rd. (County Road 10).	C	????	Residence	None	Wood
Tamarack		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
STATIONS OF THE PAST
Station Name	Original Railroad	Notes
Aitkin		The original passenger station here was destroyed by fire in December 1884 (The Sun, 12-4-1884).
Aitkin		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.
Aitkin		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		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
Arthyde (Arthyde Spur)		The station here was a converted boxcar.
Axtell (Round Lake)
Bain
Brauer (Brower)		This Mississippi, Hill City & Western station was between Hill City and Washburn at mile post 20.5 (from Swan River) and was 3.7 miles from Hill City. This line ran from Hill City to Mississippi Junction and then into Swan River via the GN. The line opened in 1910 and was abandoned in 1935.
Cedar lake		According to the NP Valuation Records of 1917, a 16'x37' combination station was built here in 1897. This station was also known as Cedar Lake Connection.
Darina (West Lake)		This town vanished when the Soo gained trackage rights on the NP between Deerwood and McGregor in the 1920s. The Soo Line originally named this station "West Lake," but the post office objected to that name (ironically, a post office was ultimately not established here).
East Lake		This station was in Section 20 of Spalding Township.
Grass Twine Spur		There was likley no station building here, but it was at least a passenger flag stop. There were a couple of hay shed here for the Grass Twine Company. Passenger service was disconinuted here in 1907 (The Brainerd Daily Dispatch, 12-6-1907).
Grayling		According to the NP Valuation Records of 1917, a 10'x19' passenger station was built here in 1898. This area was alson known as "Sandy River Crossing" or "Sandy River Bridge," although it's unclear whether the RR ever used those names for the station itself.
Hill City		This was the terminus of the 24-mile Mississippi, Hill City & Western Railway. It ran from Swan River to Hill City. It had trackage rights on the GN from Mississippi Junction to Swan River.
Jacobson (Mississippi)		Jacobson was formerly known as "Mississippi" and "Mississippi Landing."
Kimberly		According to the NP Valuation Records of 1917, a 30'x48' combination passenger station was built here in 1908.
Lansford (Ude) (Portage)		According to the NP Valuation Records of 1917, a 10'x14' passenger station was built here in 1902. This station was formerly known as "Ude" and "Portage." This station, which was in Section 35 of Jevne Township replaced the "Portage Crossing" station in Section 32.
Lawler
Maplehurst		This was an early Soo Line flag stop, but there was likely no station building here. There was a stock ranch here which is where the flag stop was located.
McGrath (Elmwood)		This station was burned down for fire department practice on October 25, 1984.
McGregor
Pierceville		The book "Minnesota Place Names" lists this as a station on the Hill City Railway in Section 18 of Ruth Township (which became part of the Unorganized Territory of NW Aitkin in 1937). Not sure where this station was exactly.
Rabey		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? Its original location was likely where Rabey Road crosses the old grade around GPS: 46.999098, -93.379354.
Redtop		Top photo shows 2,000 rabbits stacked on the depot platform; bottom photo is of depot.
Redtop		This two-story station was likely a newer station.
Rossburg		According to the NP Valuation Records of 1917, a 12'x16' passenger station was built here in 1890.
Seaver		This station was between Rabey and Mississippi Junction. It was in the vicinity of Great River Road where the grade crosses around GPS: 47.016053, -93.294668.
Solana
Shovel Lake
Swatara		This station was on the south side of Main Street.
Tamarack (Sicottes)		The earliest station here was called "Sicottes." The name was changed to Tamarack in 1883.
Tamarack
Washburn		This station may have also been known as Marshfield early on. It was on the north side of Washburn Lake in the general vicinity of GPS: 46.981663, -93.466369.
Whitepine (Longfellow)		This station was at the end of a 3.2-mile branch line that went NW out of Solana.
1898 AITKIN COUNTY RAILROAD MAP

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.