Lake Crystal and the Railroad

Lake Crystal and the Railroad (HM19V3)

Location: Lake Crystal, MN 56055 Blue Earth County
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Country: United States of America
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N 44° 6.462', W 94° 13.087'

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Inscription
"Who says we cannot build railroads in the winter?" asked the Mankato Weekly Union on December 10, 1869, in an article announcing that the tracks of the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad had reached the new town of Lake Crystal.

The decision of the railroad late in 1868 to locate its Sioux City line from Mankato past Crystal Lake led directly to the founding of the town itself. By May of 1869 railroad surveyors were engaged in planning the townsite, which embraced 40 acres of the William R. Robinson farm, about 60 acres of the L.O. Hunt farm, and some lands owned by the railroad company. When the tracks reached it in December, the town boasted about 40 buildings, including a large hotel, a two-story schoolhouse, 3 general stores, a hardware and tin shop, 4 or 5 saloons, a barrel factory, and several "very pretty residences." General Judson W. Bishop of St. Paul, the engineer of the railroad survey, gave the town its name - Lake Crystal.

Approaching the village along the west shore of Crystal Lake, the first locomotive traveled southwestward through Marston Park to a depot area near the corner of Main and Humphrey streets. In 1905 the depot was moved from the heart of the business district to the southeast shore of Lily Lake where the railroad trackage had been relocated.

Lake Crystal Area Historical Society
1982
Details
HM NumberHM19V3
Tags
Year Placed1982
Placed ByThe Lake Crystal Area Historical Society
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 at 4:04pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)15T E 402515 N 4884556
Decimal Degrees44.10770000, -94.21811667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 44° 6.462', W 94° 13.087'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds44° 6' 27.72" N, 94° 13' 5.22" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)507
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 137 E Robinson St, Lake Crystal MN 56055, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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