Loren Finds Piece of Owatonna Railroad History

Tamara, our digital editor, recently completed a Look Back story on the race to build a railroad from the Twin Cities to Owatonna and from Winona to Owatonna in 1866. What are the odds? Two days later I was digging through my playhouse looking for an old newspaper to read and I pull out the May 25, 1867, issue of the Minneapolis Daily Tribune. It includes several ads for railroads mentioning Owatonna. This would have been published about a half-year after the railroads had reached Owatonna.

You can see they have ticket prices, time tables and connecting routes listed, as well as ameneties featured at some of the stops. Four hours to the Twin Cities now seems like an eternity, but in 1867, it was a big improvement.