(rshsdepot) Pine River, MN

["James Dent" <james.dent_@_itochu.com>]

-From the  Brainerd (MN) Daily Dispatch...
Web posted Monday, April 9, 2001


Future of Pine River depot topic of debate
'I kind of see the depot as the Ellis Island of the area.' -- Douglas Birk
Grew up in Pine River

By RENEE RICHARDSON
Senior Reporter

PINE RIVER -- Evaluating the historic significance of the railroad depot in
Pine River may mean looking at the wider picture of state settlement.

Whether the depot holds historical significance is expected to be discussed
at a public hearing Tuesday, but that meeting is unlikely to be the last
word. Friday, city staff members said the issue is on the agenda for a
Minnesota Department of Transportation public hearing regarding the depot.

But there are questions about how much will be discussed at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday at Pine River City Hall. Staffers from the state's Historic
Preservation Office reached today said they have not been notified of a
meeting date and it would not meet their requirement for a public hearing on
the subject. The preservation office requested the meeting after getting a
report on the depot's historic significance from MnDOT.

At issue is the future of the depot building. Depot ownership was
transferred from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad to MnDOT. The
railroad sold the main rail line and switching line to the DNR. And the Paul
Bunyan Trail, which transformed steel rail corridors into recreation paths,
now runs next to the depot.

The city council last fall voted to condemn the depot. MnDOT recently sent a
report to the State Historic Preservation Office, concluding the depot was
not eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. After
getting the report, the State Historic Preservation Office requested more
information and a public meeting.

The Pine River City Council set aside 15 minutes Tuesday for a public
meeting during the council's regular agenda. City Attorney Ted Lundrigan
said in January the city's opinion is that the building holds no unique
historic qualities and MnDOT's cultural consultant reached the same opinion.

Not everyone is willing to lay little historic significance to the depot.

Douglas Birk grew up in Pine River and watched his former hometown change
over the years. Birk, an archeologist and senior research fellow at the
Institute for Minnesota Archeology, now lives in Minneapolis.

Birk said preservation issues about what to save or not save are widespread
in many communities. He said the depot is one example in Pine River. Birk
has done considerable research on the depot. His file includes photos he
took of the building when he was a Pine River High School student.

Birk said MnDOT's consultant evaluated the depot on a logging railroad theme
and while it was a logging railroad, he said the depot's significance
stretches beyond that use.

When Birk began researching the historic themes connected with the depot
weeks ago, he said other significance was apparent.

"The town wouldn't be there without a railroad," Birk said. He also went
back to a 1960 aerial photograph of Pine River he bought as a teen-ager.
"The town is laid out in relation to the railroad and here is this little
depot sitting there and it looks like it is holding court for the whole
town."

The depot was completed in 1913. Birk said the building has been neglected
since 1985.

Birk said his research found the railroad put in another siding, where
railcars could be cut from a train and left by the depot, in response to the
immigrant cars arriving there. In past research of the city, Birk said
families told him that box cars were loaded with belongings even as families
traveled to Pine River by covered wagon.

"I kind of see the depot as the Ellis Island of the area," Birk said. "You
have to evaluate it more than on the logging history."

Birk said he recently found out there are segments of the railroad bed from
Lake Hubert to Walker that were determined to be eligible for the National
Historic Register, meaning the depot could be looked at as part of a larger
system and its role in the state's settlement.

"I would think the citizens there would know what is and what is not
important," Birk said of depot's importance to the community. "If it's
eligible for the National Register or not, it is something that should
really be saved by the people of that town."

------------------------------