Friends of Historic Finlayson

03/10/2026

Town & Country Insurance has nominated three nonprofit organizations for their monthly cash award donation. This month, Friends of Historic Finlayson could win $495 with your help. Please vote by clicking on the "like" button for Friends of Historic Finlayson. You can even leave a comment or love our nonprofit mission. Thank you for your continued support and please look for our ongoing updates as the weather begins to warm up.
Board of Directors
Friends of Historic City of Finlayson

12/01/2025

As we are entering the winter season, outdoor activities will slow down in the restoration efforts of Finlayson’s N.P. combination Depot. However, we are in the process of having pine logs sawed and milled to replace the board and battens on the exterior depot facade. These boards need to dry out over the winter months before they can be attached and secured to the depot frame. If you have any pine logs (white pine preferred )of long lengths (14 ft or longer), let us know. Below is an Artificial Intelligence rendition of the depot in the original 1909 colors of Indian Red with Bottle Green accents.

11/27/2025

Happy Thanksgiving! We're so grateful for your support, which allows us to restore the historic Finlayson Northern Pacific Depot. We couldn't do this work without you.

11/18/2025

Give to the Max 2025 is this Thursday, November 20th. Friends of Historic Finlayson hopes that you will consider a donation to our nonprofit organization. Go to GiveMN.org and find our entry to donate. See below our ultimate A.I. generated depiction of the Finlayson Depot after restoration. Thank you in advance.

11/15/2025

After over a century, the Finlayson Northern Pacific Combination Depot is decorated for the holidays.

A huge shoutout to Greg, Dave & Tristan for hanging the lighted displays plus the workcrew that attached all the lights. They look fantastic !

For the local Finlayson residents, take a drive downtown to see the depot festively lit up plus the downtown pole decorations decorating the night landscapes.
Fintown never looked so bright!

A big Thank You to Sue Prill for donating the Reindeer & Snowflakes and George Collova for making the trees.

11/13/2025

As we approach Thanksgiving, the Friends of Historic Finlayson would like to thank all of our generous supporters during our first nonprofit year.

Our partial 2025 Accomplishment list would not have been observed without the generous supporters of grant donors, business donors, resident donors and volunteers.

Please enjoy the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.

Regards,

FOHF Board of Directors

11/11/2025

From the Hamaline family and Minnesota Historical Archives, a tragic Northern Pacific Train wreck occurred at the Finlayson Depot station on May 14, 1910.

Newspaper articles wrote “Last Sunday morning one of the worst wrecks in the history of the Duluth Short Line branch of the N.P. Railroad occurred at Finlayson. A heavy freight train left the track at this place, piling up nine box cars and killing the fireman and head brakeman. Their names were Frank M. Jones and W.E. Young. The wreck was caused by an open switch. The switch was apparently opened by some unknown person.”

Here are some newspaper photographs of this tragedy that occurred in our town’s history.

09/02/2025

Thanks to all who had a chance to walk through the 1909 constructed Finlayson Northern Pacific Depot at Saturday’s Farmers Market. Even though we are in the early stages of restoration, we appreciate all the support shown at this event. Here is a photo of the Speeder that was showcased inside the depot.

08/27/2025

Members of Friends of Historic Finlayson will be at the Finlayson Farmers Market on August 30th showing a progress poster. We also plan to open the freight doors so you can peek inside and possibly the waiting room. Hopefully we’ll see you there.

08/17/2025

08/15/2025

In mid-June, Mary, Greg, Tristan and Stefan spent over 5 hours cleaning out non-historical debris from the interior of Finlayson’s NP Depot. Over 1400 pounds of junk was removed and 2-55 gallon cans of floor dirt taken away. Shown are some pictures of the end result of their hard work.