Beaver Creek, Minnesota Railroad depot clock with history

The Beaver Creek, Minnesota Depot clock. Railroad men apparently were obsessed with the trains running on time. They were proud of their accurate railroad watches. Residents would know the time of day within minutes when the trains came in. In that context, I assume that the clock in the depot was important and probably always checked for accuracy.
My father, Lawrence Eads, got this clock out of the old depot in Beaver Creek, MN when the depot was closed down in the mid 1950's. I don’t know if there was an auction of items when it closed or how he obtained it. I also do not know if it could possibly date clear back to the 1870's when the railroad came to the town or if it was put in the depot much later. It was in the Eads Garage in Beaver Creek until he had to close the business in 1969 due to his health. He kept the clock and cleaned and restored it. My sister Mary remembers him working on it and her helping him clean it up. He did not have to fix or change any clock works but removed the garage business grime from the finish. He did put a new paper clock face on it. The exhaust and welding fumes of the garage had ruined the face. All the glass and workings are original. My mom Lucille had it until she passed in 2015. It now hangs in our family room here in Elgin, IL. It measures 33" top to bottom, 18 " across and the glass rim is 12 3/4" diameter. (I have not found any markings on the pendulum or outside of the clock. I am reluctant to try to open the back to look for markings.) It has no chime. It still runs and keeps pretty good time. One winding lasts about 7 days. Over 7 days it will lose about 8 minutes. My wife Jacque and I love its look and its history.

Beaver Creek Railroad Depot History
In 1870 the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha railroad reached Worthington, MN.
In 1876 the Worthington and Sioux Falls line of then St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad was planned. Each county had to support the expense of the railroad. In April 1876 Rock County, Minnesota voted to issue bonds for the new railroad. The rail line reached Luverne in 1876. In 1877 the right of ways on land between Luverne and Beaver Creek was purchased. Examples are $23 paid to the Snows property which we remember as the Lunstra farm. The Chesley property received that same amount (then owned by Walkup).
1877 was the year the line reached Beaver Creek. The first train arrived in January 1878. In 1877 Charles Williams gave a quitclaim deed for $1 to the railroad for 80 acres for the village except for block 2 which he was to keep. That is the area Fred Robison’s Sheet metal shop (Moerke home), and the Gale Tower house were at in the 1950’s-60’s. The town was going to be named Bishop after a railroad manager but locals slyly got “Beaver Creek” put on the plat just before it was recorded. The first Depot agent was Jim Helm.
In 1878 Beaver Creek was the end of the line for that railroad and it was boom times in Beaver! All supplies for the area ended in Beaver. As it turned out, extending the line to Sioux Falls was more difficult than expected due to rougher terrain, creeks and rivers and politics so Beaver Creek stayed the end of the line for some years. In 1883 Beaver Creek was the largest grain and stock market within a large area.
As the line moved west the population and building expansion in Beaver stopped. At one time four passenger trains and four freight trains went through each day. There were three railroad tracks in the depot area. The Depot building was not fancy. Carl Kahler has details about the depot in his “Sweet Auburn” book about Beaver Creek. I believe the depot pictured was the one still there when it was finally closed in the mid 1950’s. It was often referred to as an Omaha Depot. Later Depot agents were Bill Lens, George Schneiderhan and Ike Johnson.

End of an Era. The last passenger train to Beaver Creek was Sept. 30, 1953. It arrived from the East at about 5:30 p.m. David and Mary Anderson, LeRoy and Paul Schroeder rode on that last train. The Anderson parents took Dave and Mary to Magnolia to get on the train and picked them up in Beaver when the train arrived. LeRoy commented his parents dropped he and Paul off and drove to Beaver and arrived before the train, which revealed how slow the train moved. David says the train line at that time was the Chicago and Northwestern.
The Depot building was purchased by Darrel Sammons; probably in the very late 1950’s. He removed the floor and used the wood for an addition on his home. In 1961 Calvin Schroeder, LeRoy and Paul’s dad, moved the old depot to what we remember as the Tommy Hansen place north of Beaver Creek. (minus the floor boards).