RUSHFORD, Minn. – the Rushford Historical Society received a $255,000 grant to repair its museum in the old Southern Minnesota Railroad depot. The grant was from the Minnesota Historical Society. The depot was he first Fillmore County stop after Peterson for trains heading up the Root River from Hokah as the line was building west to Austin starting in 1855. The Southern Minnesota was later absorbed by the Milwaukee Road, which ran its last passenger train through Rushford in 1975, its last freight train in 1980.
Still looks like a train depot. With baggage carts, a spur switch, a trackside awning and a trainmaster’s bay window. But the only travelers these days are bicyclists on the Root River Trail.