Abandoned Gas - Curt's Cannonball - Cannon Falls, MN

Fun fact! Curt's Cannonball was scheduled to be the 50th story posted on Four Baggers, back in late 2017. But, plans change... Instead, it will be the 209th story posted! In the early days of this blog, I was able to post 5-10 stories per month. These days, not so much...

So if you've been waiting over four years for this, here you go! 

Hope it's worth it!


I know that stained glass sign is supposed to say "Curt's", but it sure looks like it says...


Here is Curt's Cannonball as I saw it in October of 2017. Looking run-down, yet not too bad. Weeds are growing through the cracked pavement, but none of the windows are boarded up. There weren't broken either. Located off Highway 52 (with no direct access), it's a pretty high visibility property. Which likely kept much of the tagging and vandalism away. At the time I photographed it, I had no idea it had been closed for at least 4 years. It didn't look like it was closed that long ago. 

Let's check the Googles!


Curt's Cannonball was still closed in 2014, when the Googlemobile drove by for pictures. 


However, it was open for business when the low-res Googlemobile peddled around in 2009.

There was no way to read the sign for the restaurant that used to occupy a chunk of the Cannonball. I tried, but it's just a blurry mess. Safe to assume, you could probably order pancakes there. I can't be sure though... 

Thanks Google...


About a year after I took my round of Curt's Cannonball pictures, Laura and I drove by again, on our way to LaCrosse, Wisconsin. We were going to IrishFest, and I wrote about that already. Well, I wrote about the drive home from IrishFest. Which was covered in my Big Bear story. That was a different route than we took to get to LaCrosse, so I couldn't have stopped by Curt's Cannonball on the way back.

Make note of the barricades at the end of the street in front of Curt's.

They will come into play later.


The building looks a little more crumbly and falling apart in the year since. I wanted to stop and take a better set of pictures. The ones I took in 2017 weren't that great. The camera wasn't cooperating with decent quality, and we were losing daylight fast. There wasn't many of them that I was happy with, and had been wanting to remedy that since I took them.

Knowing that we would be driving through Cannon Falls again, in April of this year, I hit the Googles. Need to check if there was any point in scheduling a stop at Curt's Cannonball, to update my pictures.


Nope.

At some point between August 2018, and whatever year the Googles satellite aimed itself at Cannon Falls, MN, Curt's Cannonball was scrubbed from the Earth.

Guess there's no reason to stop now!

So let's go back to that late afternoon, of October 30, 2017. Laura and I were driving from Waterloo, Iowa, (where we visited my sister) to Coon Rapids, Minnesota. We were still living in Colorado at the time, just beginning the process of our move back. In a rare turn of events, I was actually the passenger while Laura drove. This allowed me to take more pictures since I didn't have to pay attention to the road.


I could even take rare over-the-shoulder-through-the-rear-driver-side-window shots!

Cannon Falls sits mainly on the east side of the highway. With an exit on the south and northern edges of town. Soon after we passed the south exit, I saw Curt's Cannonball on the right. A fairly large abandoned truck stop, just sitting out in the open. Yet cut off from the traffic it needs to survive. From what I saw on the highway, I could easily walk around and photograph the building, and be back on the road without wasting too much time. 

I had Laura take the Cannon Falls exit on the north side of town, where we could double back using the non-highway city roads. We stopped at a gas station for facilities and directions to the Cannonball. I was told it had been closed for a few years, and was owned by a friend of the guy working at this gas station. Other than that, he didn't offer up any more information. Guess I should have asked some more.

And then remembered it...


Laura snapped a picture of this flyer in the restroom. You find these a lot along the freeway, and they are definitely a good thing for a sad scenario. Looking at all of the tabs that have been removed from the flyer, tells you something that you might not want to know about this area. And what goes through here on a daily basis. I hope some of these girls found help and a way out of what can't be a good life.

That gas station was directly off the highway, at the top of the freeway exit ramp. The directions from the cashier were to drive a ways into town, then take 4th Street south, a mile or two down to the former truck stop.


Unfortunately, my camera wasn't up for taking decent low light photos through the windshield, as we approached downtown Cannon Falls. Should have known this cheap camera wasn't meant for this kind of field work.


The store where Cannon Falls citizens buy their smiles.


Here's another abandoned set of storefronts, an appetizer for what I'm about to see...


Remnants of the Curt's Cannonball gas sign, at the east entrance to the parking lot.

Looks like Curt served BP gas at his Cannonball.

Shortly after taking this picture, I got out of the car to walk around the building. Laura wanted to get some food from the McDonald's drive through, while I took my pictures. I turned down food since I didn't want to continue the drive back to Minneapolis, fighting the effects of what McDonald's could do to me.


The east side of Curt's. The diesel pumps would be immediately on the right, with the main gas pumps up front. A white pick-up truck was parked in front of the store. Once I got closer, I could tell it was vacant. But it was also another reason to get out of here fairly quick. In case the owner came back and wondered what I was doing.


Row of Curt's diesel pumps.

Across 4th Street, a large SuperAmerica gas station is still open.

Surviving when Curt's did not.

Another building housing a Subway and a liquor store can be seen directly across Hickory Drive. Going further back on Hickory Drive, you can turn onto a frontage road that took you north. Today, there are no buildings along this road. However, in the 2014 Googles, there is an open bar/restaurant a few hundred yards up the road. It was closed in 2009. Back then, it appeared like a closed-up Hardees. Which made me think that I'd eaten there back in the early 1990's. When it was a Hardees.


Usually when a gas station closes, the pumps are removed, if not the underground fuel tanks, as well. At Curt's, the pump were all standing, not even bagged or covered. This gave the impression that it's closure was somewhat recent, but had actually been closed for several years.


Guess the pink MN State "REJECTED DO NOT USE" stickers are good enough?


Got some broken pumps here, a tire with a pop bottle crate inside, Curt's in the background and McDonald's on the far left. Good to see the old school roof again. McDonald's seems to be replacing their traditional identity as far as possible. Looking at Googles photos of today, McDonald's looks just like an office building with a yellow "M" on it. Instead of a greasy food dispenser that we all recognize.


Walking up toward the retail portion of Curt's.


The side entrance.

The note on the door was instructions for a UPS driver. I was hoping for some information about Curt's closure.

No such luck...


Looking inside the entrance doors doesn't reveal much beyond tacky wood paneling. Would have loved to read the date on the Truck Paper copies. And that sticker for Heggies Pizza is pretty cool. Haven't had one of those in a while, and I remember them being very salty.


Curt's windows, next to this door, were VERY dirty. I can tell you two things for sure. A Little Debbie snack cake shelf was left behind, and Curt was a fan of dark wood paneling. The Cannonball layout appears to have the main registers in the front, middle part of the store. With retail (and likely coolers) on this end.

A full-service restaurant sat on the opposite end of this building.


Wish I would have taken close-up pictures of the pumps.

The white truck made me nervous.


Or taken some completely not-blurry pictures of the signs on the front entrance doors.


Think Curt may have left the X-Mess decorations hanging when he closed.

Using some semi-super-secret powers of deduction, I'm thinking the Cannonball shut down sometime after the holidays in 2013. The Googles photo shows it open in 2009 and closed in 2014. I'm going to side with the later years given the condition of the property.


You'd think the place would be more destroyed if it had been closed longer.


Walking toward the restaurant. I should have tried to get some more window pictures here. But I figured Laura was probably finished in the McDonald's Drive Through by now, so I should hurry myself along.


Looking out at  Highway 52, beyond the parking lot.


According to the Googles, there was once a stop light and intersection located here. The Googlemobile shot this view in 2014, but by 2017, all traces of this intersection are gone. You can see where Hickory Drive ends today, with a fence, in the 2018 photo. 


McDonald's didn't put a whole lot of effort into their message board... "Have our 2 4 $ three"? Guess they figured since they didn't have to compete with Curt's Cannonball for attention on the sign anymore... Why try?

Hmmm... Gas prices were still in the $3's when Curt closed... That could mean 2013... Or maybe 2012?


Atrium for whatever restaurant was here.

The blinds were pulled on these windows, so I couldn't look inside.


Dumpster area. The sidewalk is pretty overgrown in this area.


Rather tall single bay door that goes the length of the building.

Doesn't appear to be a car wash...


Inside it appears to be a lot of junk stored, but nothing special.


Southwest corner, looking north.


Back of the building.

Which is surprisingly clear of tagging, though it looks like some was covered up with mis-matching paint.


Various stuff behind the east garage bay door.


LOVE the old NSP electric shock image!

The angry ball of lightning zapping the small armed man, always gets a pop out of me!

And it's nice to see Northern States Power represented, years after it was absorbed by a larger entity.


Opposite end of the garage bay. More barrels here than there.


Turning around for one last shot of the diesel pumps before leaving Curt's...


And meeting up with Laura outside the McDonald's. Where she was calmly finishing her happy meal in our getaway car. Now it came with a twist... I had to drive the rest of the way to Minneapolis.

Damat!

I guess that's fair since I got my Curt's Cannonball pictures.


Laura did give me the cheap Transformers promotional toy tie-in, to whatever movie it was that they were promoting, which was packaged inside her happy meal! It's sitting on a shelf in The Home of Happy Playthings.

Mint in a bag!


Since I was driving back to Crapids, I stopped taking pictures. With the exception of one final shot, taken from northbound highway 52. I'd always wanted a photo of the Flint Hills Resources refinery, in Rosemount, Minnesota, taken at dusk. Too bad it's blurry, but I still really like it!

As far as capturing Curt's Cannonball goes, I have to say I botched it. Didn't have a camera up to the challenge of low light and shadows. And I was still refining my craft as far as taking pictures of buildings go. Unfortunately, Curt's Cannonball was a good chance to take some really good photos of a unique abandoned property, and I missed a great deal of pictures that should have been obvious to take.

So yeah... Not worthy of a 50th post. This feels much better as a 209.

For execution, I give myself a D-. 

But "D" is for DIPLOMA!

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