Redwood, Minnesota
North Redwood, Minnesota
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Do you have any railroad information about Redwood, Minnesota?If you have any photos or other information relating to Redwood,
Minnesota please contribute to this page. In 1886 Richard W. Sears was the depot agent in what was known at the time as North Redwood. One day a shipment of watches arrived at the depot for a local jeweler who refused to accept them. Instead of returning the watches to the wholesaler in Chicago, the enterprising Sears sent letters to other agents along the line offering the watches at a good price. He soon had them all sold and ordered more. Thus was beginning of what was to become the worlds largest mail order company. In 1887 he quit the railroad business and started R.W. Sears watch Co. in Minneapolis. He eventually moved the company to Chicago and hired watchmaker Alvah C. Roebuck. From that association came Sears, Roebuck & Co. As many of you know the Sears company can trace it's beginings to the depot at Redwood , MN. You can read about it in Donovan's book "Mile Posts on the Praire". During mid 1960 the RR either donated or sold the building to the Redwood county Historical Society. It was moved to the fairgrounds at Redwood Falls, about two miles away. During August 1961, unfortunatly, in an attempt to rid the building of hornets, it burned to the ground. However, part of the original bulding remains. For some reason, the original freight shed was never moved to the fairgrounds. The depot had two freight sheds, the original one was on the right hand side of the bay, and the newer one to the left. I believe the newer one was moved to the fairgrounds, although I have never seen a picture of exactly what was moved there. The original freight shed is now located about a block away from the original site, on private property, right next to the "Bottle Shop" . It is used as a small garage/utility shed. It still has it's large heavy freight door and roof corbells. In the early 1980's I researched and built an HO scale model of the original depot with it's freight shed. I still have my notes and drawings. There are several nice images of this depot on the Minnesota Historical Society's web site. Both interior and exterior. (Links are listed below) At a later date I will write more about depots and the MSTL in western Minnesota. Brian Wordes brigayle.com@mail.tds.net There was a new Redwood depot built in 1959. The following links are from the http://collections.mnhs.org/VisualResources/VRDBImages/pf101/pf101499.jpg http://collections.mnhs.org/VisualResources/VRDBImages/pf014/pf014590.jpg http://collections.mnhs.org/VisualResources/VRDBImages/pf006/pf006418.jpg http://collections.mnhs.org/VisualResources/VRDBImages/pf032/pf032406.jpg http://collections.mnhs.org/VisualResources/VRDBImages/pf032/pf032407.jpg http://collections.mnhs.org/VisualResources/VRDBImages/pf006/pf006418.jpg |
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