If you happened to be driving down County Road 39 on January 7, 1977,
you may have been surprised to see a depot on a slow roll to its new home in
Fairmont, Minnesota. It was on that day that the Chicago and Northwestern
depot was lifted from its foundation in Truman, Minnesota, set a top a flatbed
trailer, and cast away to a new life just 15 miles south.

It was in 1975 that Chicago and Northwestern made its decision to close down the
portion of the track that the depot was on. The Truman Farmers Elevator
bought the depot and used it to store plumbing parts, but decided it was
time to sell the building in 1976. If no one would purchase the building,
then the elevator would be forced to burn the building to the ground.

A common interest in preserving the old led Jim and Pat Stockdill to their
decision to buy the depot. Preparations were made to move the hundred
year-old building down the country roads. A new foundation had to be
poured at it's new home, a flat bed trailer large enough to transport the
depot had to be found and highlines and other obstacles had to be
temporarily moved or taken down.

The acreage where the depot was to call home was
ironically first owned by Chicago and Northwestern when the land
was first homesteaded. Then it was owned by the Lamperts and the Leets,
serving as a weather station, and onced named Rose Hill Farm
for the pink wild roses that lined the roadside.

Without having to cut the building into pieces to move it, the depot was served
whole its new home. The first of many improvements was the roof.
A summer rainstorm with heavy, blowing rain, blew one shingle after another
off the roof of the depot. Some quick phone calls were made and work
on replacing the roof and its chimneys was underway.

During the next ten years while the antique business
was run out of a pump house, the depot was restored,
the majority of the work completed in 1986.

Electrical, heating, air conditioning, carpet, and custom windows
-- identical to the originals -- were installed during the year.
Replacing trim missing from windows and doorways
was a more formative task. Fortunately, it was only a short trip to a nearby
Lewisville farm where an identical sister Chicago Northwestern depot still exists.

In December 1986, the interior remodeling was completed
and the antiques made their way from the pump house to the restored
heated and air-conditioned depot.