Towns and Nature

Saturday, August 15, 2026

Bush, IL: 1912 Tornado Destroyed MoPac/SIMS Roundhouse

Morris Library posted

Jolly Roger: I believe the spot were the round house was located at is now Big Muddy Hogs. [I could not find Big Muddy Hogs.]

David Cantrell shared

Missouri Pacific roundhouse at Bush, IL hit by 1912 tornado.

- Morris Library

1910/10 Herrin Quad @ 62,500

I presume it was rebuilt in the same location.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Barry, MN: Wood Grain Elevator

(Satellite)

Street View, Jul 2024

Wesley Peters posted two photos with the comment:

Grain Elevator Photography Trip 2, North Dakota/South Dakota/Minnesota.
Barry, Big Stone County, MN.
Barry Farmers Co-op Elevator. False-front combination headhouse/annex built after 1972 (exact year unknown). Bushel capacity unknown.
Photographed on 7/20/2025.
Photos courtesy of Wesley Peters.

The railroad was built by the Great Northern.

1918/18 Beardsley Quad @ 62,500

BNSF supposedly still owns this Browns Valley Line to Beardsley, but...

National Rail Network Map

...BNSF has obviously abandoned this route.

Street View, Jul 2024

Friday, August 14, 2026

Fairdale, IL: Lost/Milwaukee Depot

(Satellite, based on the aerial photo below.)

Andy Zukowski posted
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railway Depot in Fairdale, Illinois. 1909

Pete Zimmermann: If that's the one I'm thinking about that entire town doesn't even exist anymore basically with wiped out by a tornadoes some years back.

Fred Hilgenberg: Pete Zimmermann April 9, 2015 the tornado went from Rochelle to Fairdale. For a while you could see the marks of the storm path in the fields between the towns on Google Maps satellite views. Way back in the early 90's I was interested in buying up the old church there and making it into a home. It was still standing, but so damaged I here they tore it down.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Pete's comment
There is a lot of grass in that town. This is on Main Street, https://maps.app.goo.gl/SbHaMq26ynuuS6V18.

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Buffalo Lake, MN: Wood Grain Elevator is Rail Served by TCWR

(Satellite)

Note the fall protector.

Street View, Apr 2023

Michael Krejci posted
In Minnesota.

Tom Dueringer: There use to be an ethanol plant near this elevator

I wonder if the remnants on the lower-left side of this excerpt was the ethanol plant. I also wonder why the plant did not survive.

Satellite

The railroad used to be the Milwaukee.

1964/65 Buffalo Lake Quad @ 24,000

It is now the TCWR.

tcwr via Dennis DeBruler

Georgetown, CO: 1884 Georgetown Loop/Colorado & Southern

(Satellite, 11,629)

Georgetown also has an electric power generation museum.

Street View, Oct 2012

Richard Crabtree posted

High Atop the Georgetown Loop

William Henry Jackson - Photographing the Loop

He was using Colorado Central No. 4 2-6-0 Mogul Porter Bell and D.S.P & P. Business Car No. 50 as his darkroom.

It just so happen the Local Photographer Alexander Martin caught a similar image on the same day in 1884.

Denver Public Library Digital Collection

Alexander Martin was born in Scotland and was active in Colorado as a photographer from approximately 1874-1901. He operated photography galleries in various Colorado towns, including Boulder, Central City, Georgetown, and Denver.