Work was begun on the railroad in the fall of 1880. The first passenger train came through on November 17, 1881. People couldn’t get their work done as they spent so much time watching the trains. On February 2, 1882 they put up Parker’s Station on land donated by Alfred Parker. It wasn’t much more than a platform – trains had to be flagged if you wished to ride. On March 15th a man flagged the train at Parker’s Station and two days later two men got off the train at Parker’s Station. They raised the first depot, June 12, 1884. Mrs. Downs(pictured above) was depot master. By 1888 we had double tracks so trains could pass each other. On November 14, 1888 they put a telegraph office in the depot. On June 19, 1893 Great Northern trains went through all the way to the West Coast.
-This material was gathered from the North Hennepin Post and the diaries of Ellen M. Bisbee, (sister of J. P. Shumway and Nathan F. Russ J. P. Shumway). It was compiled and edited by Evelyn and Esther Shumway for a Robbinsdale Historiocal Society slide show in 1980.