Gone!

I was driving home from work one day and rounded a corner that I’ve rounded countless times before.  A shed, serving as a milk transfer station, that sat on this corner for as long as I can remember was suddenly gone.  Pouf!  It had been there the day before, on April 10, 2007, but by April 11, it was no more.  The only evidence of its fate was an orange bulldozer and a small pile of litter on the site.

Somehow, I figured, something seemingly so permanent should take longer to dismantle.  I thought surely the block foundation would require more than a bulldozer to destroy.

I was sad to see it go.  No longer would I see Oak Grove trucks parked beside it, or have to maneuver around one parked sideways across the road.  And then, horror struck!  No one had taken any pictures of the milk transfer station!  Oh, wait . . . I had, for the Morrison County Historical Society’s 2003 photography project, Uncommon Focus.  Whew!  Relief.

When I searched through photos from this collection, I realized a couple of things:  1) The milk transfer station did not have a solid block foundation; it was merely a wood building resting on cement blocks.   2) An awful lot of structures have gone missing since our 2003 project.  Not including Hennepin Paper Company or Upsala’s W.P.A. bridge, which were mentioned as being slated for destruction in the Winter 2004 issue of the newsletter, here are some of them.

The lesson in all of this?  Enjoy those structures while they’re around.  They might just disappear in the blink of an eye.

By Mary Warner
Copyright 2007, Morrison County Historical Society

Oak Grove Dairy milk transfer station, corner of Sixth Street & Third Avenue NE, Little Falls, Minnesota. Demolished between April 10 & 11, 2007. Photo by Mary Warner, March 2003.
Oak Grove Dairy milk transfer station, corner of Sixth Street & Third Avenue NE, Little Falls, Minnesota. Demolished between April 10 & 11, 2007. Photo by Mary Warner, March 2003.
Freedhem Evangelical Free Church, 203 Street & County Road 48, Freedhem, Minnesota. Purposely burned July 5, c. 2003-05, in order to prevent problems by vandals. Photo by Yvonne Kalahar, June 2003.
Freedhem Evangelical Free Church, 203 Street & County Road 48, Freedhem, Minnesota. Purposely burned July 5, c. 2003-05, in order to prevent problems by vandals. Photo by Yvonne Kalahar, June 2003.
Larson Motor Service, back side, on First Street NE next to Riverside Park, Little Falls, MN. Demolished the first week in May 2006 in order to make way for an apartment complex. This was the former site of N.P. Clarke’s sawmill, which was purchased by Pine Tree Lumber Company in 1891. Excavators of the site found sawdust still in the ground. Photo by Mary Warner, October 2003.
Larson Motor Service, back side, on First Street NE next to Riverside Park, Little Falls, MN. Demolished the first week in May 2006 in order to make way for an apartment complex. This was the former site of N.P. Clarke’s sawmill, which was purchased by Pine Tree Lumber Company in 1891. Excavators of the site found sawdust still in the ground. Photo by Mary Warner, October 2003.
House at the Warren/MacDougall Homestead site owned by The Nature Conservancy, located a half-mile west of 58 Street & Hillton Road, Royalton, MN. Burned by vandals August 21, 2004. Photo by Gwen Berg, March 2003.
House at the Warren/MacDougall Homestead site owned by The Nature Conservancy, located a half-mile west of 58 Street & Hillton Road, Royalton, MN. Burned by vandals August 21, 2004. Photo by Gwen Berg, March 2003.
Little Falls water tower, located on Seventh Avenue NE, next to Little Falls City Hall. Dismantled November 8, 2006, after being replaced by a larger water tower in northeast Little Falls. Photo taken from behind and below Larson Motor Service. Photo by Mary Warner, October 2003.
Little Falls water tower, located on Seventh Avenue NE, next to Little Falls City Hall. Dismantled November 8, 2006, after being replaced by a larger water tower in northeast Little Falls. Photo taken from behind and below Larson Motor Service. Photo by Mary Warner, October 2003.

13 Replies to “Gone!”

  1. i was trying to find out if the Crowder Gas Station is still standing. we heard it was taken down, to our dismay….would you please respond and let us know if it is till safe? thanks.

    Reply

  2. Whatever happened to the parsonage next to Freedhem Evangelical Church? Any pictures?
    That was my fathers first church around 1965. Pastor Robert K and Nelda Stuck. I have a couple family photos taken inside the church.

    Reply

  3. Hi, Cindy – I’m not sure what happened to the parsonage next to the church. I believe we might have photos of the church in our archives, but I don’t know if the parsonage is pictured. There might be info on this within some of our church or community files. If you want us to do a search, send us an email at contactstaff (at) morrisoncountyhistory (dot) org or give us a call at 320-632-4007.

    If you’re on Facebook, there is a large following on the Morrison County Memories page that might be able to answer your question more directly than doing a deep dive into our archives. The group is at this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1085465798206898

    Mary Warner
    Executive Director

    Reply
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  5. My late father’s first church was the Freedhem Evangelical Free Church at Freedhem Minnesota. I knew it had been demolished/destroyed several years ago. The original house that served as its patronage still is in use, next door to the now open lot.

    Another building that you may have records on is the two room school house, also gone down about a mile or less west on Hwy. 203, down from the Freedhem General Store(still there). I spent first and second grades there in one room, the other was 3rd and 4th grades.

    Reply

    1. Hi, Bill – Thanks so much for adding to our knowledge of what is now gone in the Freedhem area. We will add this information to our Freedhem box.

      Mary Warner
      Executive Director

      Reply

    2. YES, Bill or “Billy” I remember you as a little boy!!! You would have been in that Freedhem school about the same time as my sister Audrey Holst…….or were you the same age as Nancy Holst?? And I remember you dad being the pastor until we moved to Brooklyn Center. Then, oddly your uncle Ernest Vick was the pastor at a nearby Berean Free Church, where a high school friend of mine attended! small world!! Jane H

      Reply

  6. I grew up near Freedhem, MN and went to the Freedhem School. Are there any pictures of the outside of the school in the archives?

    Reply

    1. Esther-

      Unfortunately we have very few photos of schools outside of Little Falls, so I was unable to find any of the Freedhem school in our archives.

      Grace Duxbury
      Museum Manager

      Reply

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