Friends of Historic Finlayson

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Friends of Historic Finlayson Friends of Historic Finlayson mission is to preserve and restore Finlayson's historically significant buildings making them available to the public.

FOHF is expanding its one-page historical building synopses. In this account, we are sharing our findings about the Bel...
09/19/2026

FOHF is expanding its one-page historical building synopses. In this account, we are sharing our findings about the Belling building where numerous residents received haircuts from Mr. Belling. The store went through a few hands and Leonard and LaVerne Johnson opened their home to numerous guests over their time owning the store.

We did it! Phase 1 of restoring the exterior of Finlaysons’ Northern Pacific Combination Depot is complete. On Saturday...
09/09/2026

We did it!
Phase 1 of restoring the exterior of Finlaysons’ Northern Pacific Combination Depot is complete.

On Saturday, September 5, 2026, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held showcasing the completed restored depot in its original 1909 Northern Pacific color scheme of Indian Red façade with Bottle Green trim. Finlayson Mayor, Barbara Morgan, read a letter of appreciation of how Friends of Historic Finlayson, took on the task in preserving the rich architectural history and significance of the depot to the economic development of the area.

The Friends of Historic Finlayson Board of Directors would like to thank all our supporters with your incredible generosity in completing the restoration of the Finlayson Depot. Each of you believed in our mission and made our vision a reality. We are deeply grateful for your continued investment in our community.

Over the last 24 months, with your support, we have successfully achieved stabilizing the depot foundation, replaced all deteriorated foundation support beams, hand crafted all double pane windows, removed all rotted board and batten building façade siding, replaced all white pine lumber with newly sawed, milled, dried, and dimensionally shaped lumber, removed and replaced all freight and entry doors, constructed new entrance steps, and primed, caulked and painted the entire building, eaves, and trim.

This is a massive step forward, but our work is still not done. As we look at Phase 2, we will focus on completing the electrical work that has been ongoing in conjunction with Phase 1. Phase 3 will focus on the interior of the depot with scraping and removing old paint in the waiting and office rooms plus painting the freight room sprucing the entire depot for future use as a public museum. Phase 4 will also be scoped out as we envision a depot platform on the east-side that will mimic the depots original train platform design characteristics.

We look forward in sharing more updates as we keep moving forward. You can see our progress anytime by following us on Facebook Friends of Historic Finlayson social media page.

Until then, we want to formally thank everyone who contributed to our “Save the Depot” money bucket, and the following in helping us completing Phase 1.

Financial Grants

Town & Country Insurance
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association Preservation Grant
National Railway Historical Society Heritage Grant
Minnesota Give to the Max Individual Grants
Northview Bank
Federal Home Loan Bank – Des Moines
East Central Energy Round Up Grant
Finlayson-Giese Lions Club

Volunteerism Labor Support Restoring Depot

Ron Redding, Rich Bosiacki, Stanley Thompson, Angela Grochowski, Lois Pizzella, Jerry Pizzella, Greg Sorenson, Mary Sorenson, Bob Gagne, Stefan Babirad, Tristan Mayer, Dan Henkel, Dave Schaefer, Gene Gore, Randy Millner and Wyatt Lucht.

Monetary Giving (greater than $100)

Lee & Shirley Uldbjerg
Bill & Barb Morgan
Jerry & Marie Schneider
Amy & Stefan Babirad
Dave Auchter
Mary Dresser
Rhonda Kriesel
Karla Oksanen
Cully & Barb Johnson

Lumber Donations

Cory Stafne (Iron Horse Tree Service)
Ed Kavanaugh
Dennis and Nancy Liebelt
Craig Skaff
Laurie Hilty

Business and Contractor Support

City of Finlayson
Finlayson Community Club
Erik’s Electric, LLC
Bass Lake Mill, LLC
Herbst Lumber Co.
Tyler Kangas Milling
R&R Contractors, LLC
Ken Dittberner Painting, LLC

On Saturday, September 5th, drop by the Finlayson Depot for the Fall Farmers Market. While there, see the progress being...
09/02/2026

On Saturday, September 5th, drop by the Finlayson Depot for the Fall Farmers Market. While there, see the progress being made in the restoration and preservation of Finlayson’s historic depot. The newly sided and painted depot has new freight doors hung, new stairwell fabricated and secured into the new door waiting room, and a new door that leads into the depot indoor outhouse. See you all at the Farmers Market.

Thanks to Greg Sorenson who spent the entire weekend fabricating both Freight Doors for the Finlayson NP Depot. They lo...
08/23/2026

Thanks to Greg Sorenson who spent the entire weekend fabricating both Freight Doors for the Finlayson NP Depot. They look great!! All that is needed now is some primer, paint and trim. Then they will be ready to be hung giving the depot that fresh new look. Thanks again Greg giving up your weekend.

A brief progress report for today's posting. The trim boards and windows were painted Bottle Green. Also the foundatio...
08/20/2026

A brief progress report for today's posting. The trim boards and windows were painted Bottle Green. Also the foundation blocks were taken care of with a nice gray color. The freight doors and restroom door are being finalized/fabricated as we are nearing completion of the outside restoration.

Just a few looks of the Indian Red painted Northern Pacific Combination Depot in Finlayson, Minnesota. The Bottle Green...
08/17/2026

Just a few looks of the Indian Red painted Northern Pacific Combination Depot in Finlayson, Minnesota. The Bottle Green trim needs to be tackled next as well as putting in the door on the east-south side of the building. Thanks to all the comments from the various groups that are following our progress.

Progress continues in the restoration of Finlayson's Northern Pacific Combination Depot. The gray colored primer is bein...
08/14/2026

Progress continues in the restoration of Finlayson's Northern Pacific Combination Depot. The gray colored primer is being covered with the Northern Pacific Indian Red color. The guys are making significant progress with the buildings north and east side facing siding being worked on.

Continuing with the restoration of Finlayson's Northern Pacific Depot. Anyone who has painted knows that trim work is sl...
08/13/2026

Continuing with the restoration of Finlayson's Northern Pacific Depot. Anyone who has painted knows that trim work is slow and labor intensive. Try doing that on a depot that has eaves and facia boards 20+feet high. The roof drip edge, eaves and facia boards now have the bottle green color painted. Ken and Matt are moving along with great progress.

The demolition of Finlayson's Co-Op Creamery is underway.
08/12/2026

The demolition of Finlayson's Co-Op Creamery is underway.

The next phase of the restoration of Finlayson's NP Depot is to protect the white pine board and batten siding. Ken and ...
08/12/2026

The next phase of the restoration of Finlayson's NP Depot is to protect the white pine board and batten siding. Ken and Matt Dittberner are busily prepping the depot by first cleaning and caulking any open cracks/holes and then painting a primer before final paint color is applied. Bob, the painter dog, gives a paws up approval.

Address

P. O. Box 17
Finlayson, MN
55735

Telephone

+12183930413

Website

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