Dan Patch Corridor - History

History

For more information on the MStPR&D and the MNS Ry., see the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway page.

The Dan Patch Corridor was the brainchild of entrepreneur Marion Willis Savage. Incorporated in 1907 as the Minneapolis St. Paul Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Company (MStPR&D), the line began service in 1908 as a passenger line running south from Minneapolis. Savage marketed the line as the "Dan Patch Line," a connection from Minneapolis to his farm in Savage, Minnesota, where he housed his famous harness racing horse, Dan Patch. After realizing that his horse was not enough to draw people to his rail line, he began work on Antlers Park, an amusement park on Lake Marion which opened in 1910. The line then experienced steady ridership growth between 1911–1915, and revenue obtained from the park was used to extend the line south to Northfield.

Despite the early successes, the MStPR&D began encountering trouble in 1914 when it found itself unable to completely finance several expansion projects, including a southern expansion to Faribault, Minnesota, which ultimately failed. Faced with growing debt, the line began taking on more freight traffic to make payments. The line found itself even further in debt by 1916, when Marion Willis Savage and Dan Patch died within several days of each other. Antlers Park was sold in 1917 to an employee of the MStPR&D, and the rail lines were taken over in 1918 by the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway (MN&S).

Under the control of the MN&S, the corridor expanded and stretched all the way to Mankato in the south and Randolph, Minnesota, in the east in 1921 by means of a lease agreement between the MN&S and the Chicago Great Western Railway. This encouraged passenger rail traffic between Mankato and Minneapolis, and provided the MN&S with a successful source of revenue that the MStPR&D lacked. In addition to the passenger traffic, the MN&S attracted new freight traffic to the line, and profited from the increased revenue accrued.

This increased emphasis on freight traffic proved to be a lifeline for the MN&S after increased bus and car usage grew in the late 1920s. The loss of passenger traffic resulted in the cut of the Northfield-Mankato and Northfield-Randolph passenger lines by 1931. A halt in all passenger traffic followed soon thereafter in 1942. The lines continued as freight lines after that point. The MN&S was acquired by the Soo Line Railroad in 1982, and they, in turn, were sold to the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1992.