Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Grand Rapids, MN: (Church+Visitor Center)/GN Depot, Blandin Paper Mill, Feed Mill and BNSF Railyard

Depot: (Satellite)
Paper Mill: (Satellite)
Feed Mill: (Satellite)
BNSF Yard Office: (Satellite)

The freight handling part was the West Cohasset Chapel.
Street View, Sep 2024

The depot is now the Visitor Center.
Street View, Sep 2024

They honor their railroad heritage by preserving the train order semaphore.
Street View, Aug 2025

They are serious about tourists because they sell ice cream and candy.
Laura Venema, Aug 2017

8 of 21 photos posted by Randi Relander with the comment: "Random photos from by the old feed mill in Grand Rapids, MN this weekend. July 31, 2026."
Adam Jones: They are going tearing down the old feed mill.
Matthew Davis: Try tent camping at the Pokegama Dam canoe/walk in site right by the tracks. It’s like an earthquake simulator if a train goes by.
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[This is the second time in two days that I have found a "smokestack industry." The first was the glass plant in Dunkirk, IN.]

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[Once again, BNSF has an old locomotive painted in the swish H1 livery to handle the local switching.]

8
[I wonder which chemical needs a sway back tank car and why. This is probably a rather special chemical for the paper mill. Note the sprinkler in the right background keeping the logs wet.]

They have a lot of logs.
Street View, Sep 2023

Going further down 3rd Street, we confirm that the "orange blob" in the left side of the above view is the H1 locomotive.
Street View, Jun 2012

It looks like it is actively moving a tank car in this view.
Street View, Sep 2023

Andrey Gegedosh, Jun 2017

We can see just a small fraction of the paper mill from street views.
Satellite

While determining that the feed mill was served by the Great Northern railroad, I noticed the depot that was marked on this map. I'm glad I checked it out because it is extant.
1953/55 Grand Rapids Quad @ 24,000

The paper mill also built a dam on the Mississippi River that tamed the namesake of this town, the 30' (9.1m) drop of the Grand Rapids.
Street View, Sep 2024 via Dennis DeBruler

The route through Grand Rapids is owned by BNSF, but CPKC has trackage rights on it.
National Rail Network Map


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