The Freight House in Stillwater, Minnesota is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Freight House and Depot is overlooking the St. Croix River on the eastern fringe of Stillwater. The freight house and depot, built in 1883, is a simple vernacular building. Exterior ornamentation consists of a series of arched doors and windows on both sides of the building. Constructed of limestone and brick the building measures 200 feet by 40 feet. The limestone foundation walls measure approximately two feet thick. The brick bearing walls are eighteen inches thick and thirty feet high. (The limestone was quarried in the nearby North Quarry.) Date of its construction is 1883. The mill construction and truss system of the building are significant as examples of wood structural engineering. The first map of Stillwater (1848) indicates that the present site of the building was once Lake St. Croix. Therefore, the building required elaborately engineered pilings to support the tremendous weight of the limestone foundation and brick walls. One of the most interesting features of the building was its dual use - passenger and freight. The building served as a freight house and passenger depot until 1955.
Lakeside Lester Park; David A. Reed House 4218 London Road; milkman; horse drawn carriage; man with beard; girl; view of Lake Superior; boardwalk; dirt road
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This is the house of the first store keeper in Thomson Township in the very early days, Henry Ruikka, his wife, and their eight children, with two bicycles in front.
This is a photograph showing the first storekeeper of the first general store in the area, Henry Ruikka, and his family on their farm located on the edge of the Village of Thomson.