Barnesville, Minnesota
[Full Image-Left] [Full Image-Right]

Then: 1910 This photo shows farmers unloading potatoes into the basements of buildings along Barnesville's Front Street. Potatoes need to be kept cool until they are shipped to market - cool cellars filled the need nicely. By the early 1920s, Clay County was the second largest potato producing county in the United States, and special underground warehouses replaced store basements. The buildings from left to right were Kieffer's Hardware, W.A. Fankhanels's Saloon, Aamodt's Clothing Store, Norby and Solum's Department Store and Barnesville City Hall. At right is Assumption Catholic Church.

Now: 1993 Barnesville's downtown buildings survive largely intact, as this photo shows. The City Hall, built in 1899 of locally made bricks is on the National Register of Historic Places.

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