The Hawley Grain Elevator Fire - Hawley, MN

Late in the evening on Sunday, February 25, 2024, the large grain elevator in Hawley Minnesota, was destroyed by fire. I woke up the following morning to a text from my mom, with a link to some of the local news outlets with recorded video of the fire. I was stunned. Just a few months earlier, Laura and I had driven up here and stayed in a Hawley motel. One of my intended purposes of this trip was to get pictures of that exact grain elevator. Which in my mind was the defining landmark of the town of Hawley.

Back in November, I posted a story detailing the roadtrip Laura and I took from Crapids to Fargo, ND. I called it “My Stupid Vacation”, because instead of going someplace tropical or exotic, this was where I chose to go. Stopping at as many tourist traps and roadside attractions was we could find. Either way, you should probably read that before you read this. It will provide valuable background to this story.

Don’t worry, I’ll wait… 

The whole point of that drive was to stop in every town along the way, so I could gather material for a series of stories about each of the towns between Crapids and Fargo. This would help cover what I remembered of each of these towns, from all  those childhood drives up here. I could then compare them with what everything looks like today. 

I wasn't planning on covering the town of Hawley anywhere near this soon in the project, but the grain elevator fire brought it to the forefront.

Last fall, my thoughts as I took these pictures were: “At least the elevator was still intact.” Though it didn't look very operational today. Something I appreciated in each of these towns we stopped in, was the size of the grain elevators, and how they displayed the town identity.

After the grain elevator, the BNSF railroad bridge crossing highway 10, is my second most recognizable feature of Hawley. 

My Stupid Vacation's home base was the Hawley AmericInn Motel, just a few blocks west of that BNSF railroad bridge. An excerpt from last October's My Stupid Vacation story sets the table:

Monday October 9, 2023

===================

I woke up a little bit after 9am, took a shower in a dangerously slippery motel bathtub, and ate a surprisingly decent motel breakfast. Laura was making a couple of futile attempts to get out of bed, but she soon gave up on that. She said she wasn't feeling well, and wanted to sleep longer. I told her I was going to go out driving around. When she was awake and ready, text me, and I'd come back and pick her up. Then we'd figure out what to do later in the day.

This goes back to a conversation we had about a week before embarking on this voyage of dumbness. I hinted at the contents of my lengthy photographical scavenger hunt, and she asked: "It's ok if I don't go with on a lot of this, right?"

Absolutely!

She went back to sleep and I gathered up my stuff and left. 

Crossing over to the north side of highway 10, and the somewhat familiar streets of Hawley. I'd only driven myself around Hawley a few times, but none in the last 20 years. I'd have to rely on memories of being a passenger in the parent's car, decades ago. Once I got on the streets, I remembered where I was going pretty quickly. With a population around 2,200 (2219 people in 2020), Hawley was a fairly large small town, compared to many on this route. Meaning there was a bit more of a downtown to walk around. 

And more of a story to tell...

My grandmother lived in the Adams Way Apartments, from the late 1980’s to the early 2000’s. 

I’m pretty sure that’s the same folding chair that was sitting outside the door when she lived here.

Directly across the street from the apartments is Carl's Lefse. A well known maker of Norwegian Potato Flatbread that I absolutely do not like. However, most people are not like me, and love this stuff. Carl's been selling it for years out of this unassuming building. Reviewers rave about his product. So if you like that kind of thing, Carl probably has a Lefse for you.

Turning the corner onto 6th Street, you’ll find the Hawley Laundromat. People do laundry here.

Don’t know what else you want me to say about this...

You can see the grain elevator behind it, so that’s something. 

Next door to laundry is the Spot Light Bar. Something that amused me about all of the small towns we stopped in was how each of them had a grain elevator, post office and water tower. But the local town bar was the busiest building around. Although it was just after 10am when I took this picture. There’s less activity at the bar, than the laundromat, so I’m thinking they weren’t open yet. 

After all, you have to get the laundry done before you can start drinking! 

Your mother should have taught you that.

The brick building next door had been completely censored. All the offensive windows and doors are completely bricked over for some reason. Maybe part of the bar has spread into it and they don’t want anyone to know? Or it could be additional second hand merchandise from Reach Reusables, that no one is allowed to see from the street?

I didn’t take a dedicated picture of Reach Reusables, so this fragment of the store will have to do.

Silos on the west side of 5th Street. These were directly behind where I parked on Front Street.

All these directions make you dizzy...

The number one picture I wanted in Hawley was of the iconic Grain Elevator. With that black and white painted sign on the side, prominently displaying the town's name. An image that popped into my head every time I thought of Hawley. As soon as I heard of the fire, I was glad that I didn't wait to go up there for pictures, last October. 

Quick search on the Googles led to a bunch of photos from local news agencies reporting on the fire.

Photo from KVLY.

Even this early in the fire, it was likely going to destroy the entire wooden structure.

I can’t imagine it being rebuilt. 

Photo from TV45 Eyewitness News

I haven’t been able find a definite cause of the fire. One of the stories I read, had a witness claim he heard an explosion at the elevator, shortly before the fire broke out. Which is entirely possible. Besides the grain itself, which causes dust that is highly flammable, elevators typically store things like fuel and fertilizer. Which are also highly volatile in nature. All it takes is one trigger and you get this...

Googles defined the basics of a grain elevator explosion like this: "Heat can be anything that would ignite the dust in the first place, such as hot machinery, metal scrapping, or friction/static electricity. Fuel is the dust and it can be from grains like wheat, oats, and rice. Dispersion is the previously mentioned dust becoming suspended in large quantities, in a confined space."

Again, I do not know anything for certain, but this is a very plausible cause and effect.

At least I got my pictures.

Standing in the middle of 5th Street, looking north.

No one is around at 10:30 on a Monday morning.

Kind of eerie...

One of the truck loading docks, at the base of the elevator.

Large silos, on the other side of 5th Street.

Petro Serve USA sits just behind the silos attached to the burning grain elevator. I don't know how much of the fuel & propane bulk oil is stored on site, but if it was anything more than none fuel & propane bulk oil, this would have been pretty scary. That fire was huge and spraying burning embers and ash all over the area, given the strong winds that night.

This could have been a much bigger disaster.

Speaking of, I better watch out for trains, despite the crossing being exempt. 

Looking to my right, which would be east.

And to my left, making that west...

The railroad tracks end about four blocks west of here, just beyond 8th Street. Little bit past a seemingly inactive, and much smaller, single grain elevator. With new Hawley Police Station a little further behind it.

Looking south down 5th Street, at the opposite Railroad crossing sign. With a Yield sign and an "Oh Shit" sign, also attached to the pole. I'm not going to explain the "Oh Shit" sign again. You should have read the My Stupid Vacation summary I linked to earlier...

It's not too late. It's still there!

While doing my patented “half-assed” research in writing this story, I Googled grain elevators and lost nearly an hour of my time to learning about grain elevator entrapment and death. I'd assumed that grain packed in a silo wasn't safe to walk on, but I had no idea it was as dangerous as described. The philosophy of escaping quicksand (don't try to swim, try to float) doesn't apply here, where I thought it would. 

He (and his uni-brow) looks so scared!

According to OSHA: "If you fall inside one, you will be helpless in 3 to 4 seconds. In less than 20 seconds, you can be completely submerged in grain. The rate of inflow is so great, that escape is nearly impossible."

Watch out for that dastardly crusted grain!

OSHA again: “The predominant force is due to individual grains rubbing together to create a large friction force. The total forces resist anyone trying to remove a buried victim. Grain creates friction that resists the force used to pull them out. It requires 400 pounds-force to lift a victim buried up to their waist; removing a human completely trapped in grain takes 900 pounds-force.”

Warning heeded!

Continuing on my Hawley walk, being careful to avoid any open grain silos, north of the elevator, I found the...

The Hawley Community Center

Wonder if that is a Wooden Bow Truss roof? (Similar to the one discovered at Martin Plastics in Englewood, CO, as the property was being prepped for demolition.) The front end of the building looks to be a bit newer than the arched structure behind it. 

Answer: No.

Behind the Community Center, is the newer Hawley Fire Department. Conveniently located just over a block away from the huge grain elevator fire. Despite being nearby, crews from 16 other area fire departments were called to assist in putting the blaze out.

The former Hawley Implement building stands as a monument to farming supplies once sold here. There’s still a big presence of farm equipment being sold on the south side of highway 10. Taking up far more space than could be allowed on this city block.

Definitely appreciate the upkeep on the old hand painted Coke sign, on the side of the Hawley Implement building.

Too bad the clock is no longer operational.

Next door to Hawley Implement is the 3 Fingers Pub at Hawley Lanes. 

The Hawley Lanes bowling alley has been usurped in prominence by the 3 Fingers Pub, according to the sign attached to the building. While I cannot offer any any opinions on either of these business, the name 3 Fingers Pub made Laura giggle. I won’t get into why.

Peeking between buildings behind the bowling alley, you’ll find the old Hawley Lanes sign, hidden underneath some boarded up windows.

Looking south, from the corner of Hartford Street, at the row of businesses along 6th Street. I just learned there's a record store (the Hawley Spin Depot) located inside the brown and off-white building with the green awning. So that is very cool. I wish them all the luck in the world running a record shop here. 

While I'm not sure, I think the closest of the two Whistle Stop Cafe's is closed and for sale.

And the newer Whistle Stop Cafe next door, is the one that was open. 

Or maybe it's both? I was so confused...

Because I'm still trying to figure out what the Whistle Stop Cafe Message Board is trying to tell me...

The former Farmers Merchant State Bank is now the "Happy Old Timers" Senior Citizen Center (their name, not mine). Sure has a cool exterior from its days as a bank!

Next door was a drug store that looked like it was still open, though it wasn't today. One thing I am certain of, those standing Rexall Drug letters on the marquee are absolutely awesome!

Hey, it's still the 1960's in here!

A peek inside the front door shows a fully stocked inventory, contained in a very mid 1960's drug store. There's no online listing for a business operating here, under the name Rexall, or anything. Yelp! says this business has closed permanently.

Nothing Rexally or Drug Storey going on next door either...

There is a hand painted Wahl Drug sign on the south side of Rexall Drug. 

But no business listing for that either. However, there is a facebook page for the Hawley Wahl Drug. It has 4 followers and hasn't been updated in at least 7 years. So I don't know what the deal is with the Hawley Wahl Rexall Drug.

Nothing beyond how awesome those letters are above the door.

Same thing with this brick building on Main, next to Mickelson Body Shop. I see that I am supposed to beware of their dog. So says the sign in the front window.

But what is the dog protecting?

Some exquisite masonry here, on a building more than a century old, that looks unused today. Which is too bad. A building that looks this cool should always see use. 

Let’s step away from downtown Hawley now, for a little nutrition break. 

I'll be back.

Must mention the Arco Express Lane Convenience Store, across highway 10 from our motel. They provided a few quick grabs of food and drinks, as we were on the go. The burgers were pretty good. The Hot Stuff Pizza wasn't bad either, but it couldn't compare to Casey's. Supplier of far too many slices of pizza over the course of five days. Casey's Sausage is top notch!

Good thing there's Arco, because Casey hasn't made it to Hawley yet. Lake Park and Dillworth, sure.

But who counts Dillworth?

Love how they took "ingredients" just down to the most basic level. We can easily figure out that a cheeseburger consists of meat and cheese and a bun. But why aren't you telling us what each of the ingredients is made of? For one, I would like to know what exactly is in a BEFF patty. 

No, maybe I don't...

Arco is a more recent arrival to the highway 10 Hawley corridor. Haven't been here in over 20 years, and I was hoping the old SuperAmerica gas station was still standing, if not operating. Not that I wanted to patronize SuperAmerica, but I wanted a picture. Can't remember exactly, but I don't think it stood far from where this Arco Express Lane stands today. 

New businesses that I'd not seen before, had built on relatively large lots, on the south side of Highway 10. In addition to the light industrial and farm equipment dealers fronting the highway, retail was gaining a stronger presence along 10. Convenience stores and a couple fast food places have popped up over the last 20 years. Plus a decent sized grocery store, across the street from the church my extended family attends. (St. Andrews church itself has doubled in size since I was last through here.)

Hawley had definitely grown over the last three or four decades.

Unfortunately, as new business clings to the freeway, the old downtown areas fade. Travelers don't have a need to go deep into these towns for anything as they pass through. Changing trends in retail draw people out of small towns, in favors of the larger stores in nearby larger towns. Hawley hasn't become as desolate as some of the smaller towns along this route. But as you walk the streets of these small towns, you cant help but wish there would be enough commerce to keep them leased and occupied. 

Of course there's a WalMarts about 20 miles both east and west of here, so you no longer need a locally owned "general store". 

And are we better off because of that?

That's what I thought about, sitting in the parked car, enjoying an ARCO Cheeseburger.

Made with BEFF.

Well, how about some grain elevator fire photos from local news sources!

Photo from KSTP Minneapolis (via WDAY)

WDAY appeared to be some of the first media outlets to show up to the scene. This shot, taken from where Hobart Street curves into 5th Street shows more of the elevator intact, looking at the south facing walls. Bursting from the fire inside.

Photo from KVLY Valley News Live

KVLY took similar early photos from south of the railroad tracks. 

Photo from KVLY Valley News Live

Holes burning through the south facing walls would soon cause those walls to collapse from the fire raging behind them. By this point, you'd have to imagine the entire grain elevator building wouldn't be salvageable. With the way this fire burned it's a testament to the firefighters that were able to keep it from spreading to anything else in the immediate area.

So much water was needed that Hawley residents were asked to not use any water, if possible, until the fire was contained. Schools were cancelled for Monday, since the water pressure would not be restored in time for normal school activity. Water restrictions were lifted by 11am Monday. 

In order to boost access to more water, needed in getting the burning grain elevator under control, the fire department called on the Hawley Golf and Country Club for assistance. Which marks the first time in the history of recorded everything, that a golf course actually served a useful purpose. 

Not only the BNSF Railroad cuts through Hawley, but the winding Buffalo River does as well. 

No word on if the small river played any role in helping put out the fire. Though I'll bet some of the water used in putting the fire out, ended up in the Buffalo River. Sending tiny pieces of the burned up grain elevator, downstream, to be enjoyed by other towns along its route. 

My Great Aunt used to live in this house. I remember visiting in the early 1980's. My parents would sit with her at the kitchen table, chatting and drinking coffee. I would eat Vanilla Wafer cookies and watch for passing trains, up the hill behind the house. She would give me those fold-over desk calendars from the State Bank of Hawley, every year. I don't have a calendar in my office. Wall, desk or otherwise. Wish I still had one of those State Bank of Hawley fold-over desk calendars. But a current one!.

Not like the State Bank of Hawley is even open anymore.

At least not under that name.

Or in that building...

My Great Grandmother (on my mom's side) lived in a house a couple of blocks east of here. I tried to find the house, but I either had the wrong street or the house had been torn down and a new one built in its place. 

The Fill Thy Cup Coffee Shop and Cafe has been a small restaurant of many names over the years. Unfortunately I cannot remember a single one of its previous identities. Fill Thy Cup played a nice role in assisting the firefighters working on the grain elevator. They provided free coffee and food to all the firemen throughout the day. Staying open past their normal hours, just to serve them. That's pretty cool. 

A block or so east of the Fill Thy Cup Coffee Shop and Cafe, is the Riverside Inn. 

Parallel parkers didn't allow for a decent photo of the Riverside Inn, this morning. So I quickly snapped a photo of the entrance as I drove by. Needed the "Alcohol & Eats" sign. I just liked it.

Today the Riverside Inn is a bar and restaurant, but it used to be a motel as well.

Well, I'm pretty sure it's closed. I didn't find anything on the Googles about it still being open. The last review I found was from 2017. Looks kind of run down, but in decent shape, with no tagging. Add that all up and I like this a whole lot!

It also looks very old and small. Not that it would need to be a whole lot more than this. These roadside motels were just set up to provide a cheap rest for weary travelers. Ones that didn't need a pool or a spa. Just a clean bed and a shower. Which the Riverside Inn could provide. 

Not to me, but to one Dan F. Who wrote this review on Trip Advisor, in December, 2014:

"This even tested my low standards for a motel."

"After bouncing down the highway and eating road dirt on my motorcycle for 575 plus miles, I’m tired, sore, and dirty. All I wanted was a cheap motel with a door that locked, clean sheets, soft pillow, and a shower with hot water. At $41 for the night, it is the cheapest I’ve ever found. There’s good reason for this. You are registered by the bartender in the adjoining bar. I waited about 15 minutes before the bartender started to fill out the forms typical for a motel room. He did this and I paid the fee as the bartender intermittently prepared drinks for the bar patrons. That’s right! I stood next to the bar counter and in the middle of a bunch of drunk folks waiting for a room. Finally he handed me the room key, hesitated while looking confused, and then said, “I’m not sure if someone is still in there. If someone is there, come back, and I’ll refund your money.” WoW! Really! I’ve just been rented a motel room when someone might still be in it. ARE YOU KIDDING? With an abundance of caution, I knocked on the door before opening it. Until about 10p, I kept expecting someone to unlock the door and walk in on me. I felt anything but safe when taking a shower. The whole thing was surreal. On the up side, the room was clean and comfortable with a small shower that looked like you could roll it out the door. In light of everything else, I wasn’t surprised."

Well, if they're still open, you could have a similar experience!

I'm happy we went with the AmericInn.

Even if we didn't use the pool. 

For what it's worth, the Riverside Inn looks a lot nicer than the Broadway Motel in Denver did…

As we checked out the AmericInn, Laura grabbed a copy of the Hawley Phone Directory, from the rack of complimentary local travel magazines and attraction pamphlets, inside the front doors. 

One of the other days we were in town, I was driving to the Cormorant Lakes area, where my grandfather had a cabin 30 years ago. Along the way I drove by the Hawley Rodeo, a mile or two east of town. Which was kind of underwhelming, now that I've seen it in person.

They're not even provided seating around the cattle roping area? Just a grassy hill to sit on?

For the townsfolk, the Hawley Rodeo is a big deal. I remember hearing about the great Hawley Rodeo as a kid. It draws a god crowd in to Hawley every year, but I never actually went to the park it was held. I just knew it happened every year.

Glad I finally found its location, just for frame of reference sake. 

Hawley Wood… It’s a lumber store!

Get it?!

Whatever. Let's go back to the grain elevator, in October 2023...

Driving north on 5th Street. This would be the south of the railroad tracks cutting across town. This road is a dead end today (as indicated by the sign), closed off before the Buffalo River. In the My Stupid Vacation story, I cover that whole deal about being able to retrace that route on the Googles. But I'm not going to cover that again!

However, I will flash back to what I wrote about the BNSF railroad's geographical relationship with each town it passed through...

"Memories of this highway 10 drive were permanently etched early on in childhood. Nearly the entire route runs parallel to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Rail Line. As a little kid, I remembered how that particular rail line interacted with each town along the way. Which fascinated me, and I looked forward to the next town, until we arrived where we were going. After these drives up north decreased in frequency, I still vividly remembered the railroad parts of each town, as it's defining feature to me."

The grain elevator fire was initially reported by a BNSF train passing through town. The call came in at roughly 11pm on Sunday, February 25. Luckily, the Hawley Fire Department is just a block away.

Always loved these railroad signs, placed along the tracks, identifying each town on the line. 

So this would be the Hawley railroad sign.

Just behind the sign is a steep crossing. Allowing passage from the south side of the tracks to the north. I debated taking Laura's car over, but changed my mind due to the angle and general blindness of the crossing itself. 

Not like there was a great deal of traffic to delay me. 

Back on the north side of the railroad crossing, looking northeast. On the right side of the picture, you can see the dead end road I was just on. Coming back from where I could no longer cross the Buffalo River. 

A long abandoned platform sits between the 2 BSNF lines, and the equally abandoned spur for rail access into Hawley. Unknown what the purpose of the platform was. Tiny depot? 

Sometimes I think I should upgrade my patented "half-assed" research into "three quarters assed" research. 

Then I usually get distracted and go do something else.

Looking southwest, towards where the bridge crosses Highway 10.

The closed Hawley business rail spur is looking overgrown and ignored.

And back at where I would have crossed, if I wanted to risk damaging her car. Looking at the narrow and uneven mound of gravel piled up against the BNSF lines, agreed with my call to not cross here. I really didn't want to risk mashing the tires against the rails. Slim chance for disaster, just not a risk worth taking.

Intersection of Front Street and 5th Street.

Something else that stood out to me about Hawley when I was a little kid, was the decorative iron arms the street identifiers were mounted on. Not something you see too often, so I was happy to see them still here.

At the end of the block, sits the Hawley Post Office. In addition to each town's grain elevators, I tried to get a picture of each town's Post Office. Most of them are newer (Hawley's current building appears to date back to the 1950's), but some of them remain the oldest standing building left. Unfortunately, as time and technology advances, post offices are becoming almost as much of an outdated relic as grain elevators.

And single screen movie theaters...

Next door to the Hawley Post Office is the Garrick Theater. 

Now restored to look as it did when it was built in 1920, the Garrick Theatre was your typical small town theater. Rooted in touring vaudeville acts and silent movies. It seated 270, and was a local draw well into the 1960’s. The Garrick Theater closed in 1967, but reopened in the mid 1970's. I remember hearing my cousins talking about seeing movies here, in the early/mid 1980's. I was surprised a small town like Hawley had a movie theater when I was a kid, but I don't know if I ever saw the building back then. 

Due to changing trends in the retail and entertainment, the Garrick Theater closed again in 1989.

The theater was almost demolished a decade later. 

The Garrick Theater in 2008. (Photo from Lakes n Woods)

Between 1989 and 2002, a combination of neglect, a small fire in one of the apartments built on the second floor, and roof damage from that fire, almost caused the building to be condemned. The city of Hawley had acquired the old theater in tax forfeiture, but due to its poor condition, was going to tear down the building. Adding to the collection of historic structures in town, that were now reduced to parking lots. 

According to a 2002 story that ran in the Fargo Forum, the city of Hawley agreed on a conditional sale to save the theater. The city would pay for the asbestos removal, but the new owner would have to repair the roof. They would then own the historic Garrick Theater for the bargain price of $1.

New owner, Jim Bortnem, paid a $1 for the theater and everything inside, in early  2002. The water and smoke damaged theater, otherwise remained as it was left, when it closed in 1989. Some merchandise and supplies were left sitting out at the popcorn stand. Both of the Garrick’s two carbon arc antique film projectors were sitting intact on the second floor. 

The roof was repaired soon after the sale was completed. But work was slow on fixing the interior. Which basically required a full tear down, given all the damage from the fire and leaking roof. I found a very interesting set of photos of the renovations on the Garrick Theater's facebook page. The fact that those pictures exist means this story has a happy ending.

The Garrick Theater reopened in 2012, as a community meeting hall. Which can be rented for wedding, meetings, events or parties. Still set up like a theater, it can show movies as well. I love what they did with the theater. This is a great example of a city and citizen of a town cooperating to save a historic building. Instead of adding another parking lot.

Hats off to the Hawley City Hall for allowing this to happen. The city offices are housed in a newer brick building at the corner of Front St and 6th St, made to look old and fit in downtown. Appreciate the effort here. A glass and aluminum paneled building would look really dumb here.

The water tower sits about a half of a block behind it. In October, it was undergoing painting and maintenance. I was hoping for a picture of the tower with Hawley painted on it. Just like the post office and grain elevator buildings in every small town, another key defining feature you identify quickly.

Standing where I took the picture of Hawley City Hall, I turn to me right and snap a photo looking north up 6th Street. There's a small grassy area next to the red and white painted buildings. Walking over to it, I discovered Bob Asp Park.

Bob Asp Park's monument to the Hjemkomst.

Which was a replica Viking long boat, built by Moorhead teacher and guidance counselor, inside an old Hawley potato warehouse, between 1974 and 1980. When the replica Viking ship was completed, the old warehouse had to be demolished to remove it off site. From here, the ship made its way to the east coast, eventually sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to Norway. The actual Hjemkomst long boat is inside the Hjemkomst Museum, in Moorhead, MN. Laura and I visited the museum a couple of days after I took these monument pictures.

Too bad you can't read them...

Attempted an "arty" shot of the miniature Hjemkomst statue, mounted atop the Bob Asp Park monument. If I wanted to get really Photoshop-wacky here, I could have made the Hjemkomst jump the grain elevator fire, all Dukes of Hazzard style. 

Next to Bob Asp Park is a vacant lot. But it didn't look like it had been vacant for too long. I seemed to remember something here, but couldn't remember exactly what.

Thanks to Lakes n Woods website, I found out this was previously the old Hawley Police Station, back in 2008 

Standing in front of the Hawley Police Station, which is no longer here, looking south at (L-R) the Hawley Post Office, The Garrick Theater, Shear Shop, a vacant lot, and the former State Bank of Hawley. 

Hazy young childhood memories of an old grocery store on this vacant lot. I was with my sister, my mom and someone else. We came here to pick up a few things to bring to someone's house. Like I said, real hazy memories. Thinking around 45 years ago. Imagined grocery store operated out of a cluster of buildings, that are no longer here.

While Laura and I were in town, last October, I asked my aunt about this store. She said the name of the grocery store was Jack n’ Jill. The floors were very uneven and the building became unsafe. She didn't know when it closed or was demolished. But using an implied timeline from the Garrick Theater, I'm assuming it was demolished at least 20 years ago. Likely when all of the abandoned buildings were inspected and found to be severely damaged by decade of little to no use.  

I knew it was already gone when I was scouting photo targets on the Googles, before we drove up.

Bummed me out because I really wanted a picture of that building. 

Luckily I found an undated photo of the State Bank of Hawley, on that Lakes n Woods website!

The future Jack n’ Jill grocery Store and vacant lot, is the two buildings under the (unreadable) Department Store banner. Not the best representation of what I wanted, but an obscured photo speaks perfectly to my hazy memory. 

So glad I found this picture either way. 

The State Bank of Hawley in October, 2023. 

No more State Bank, and it looks like the only open business in this structure is the Stems of Joy flower shop. I'd assume the apartments on the second floor are lived in, but I don't know. Whatever it was behind the window painting appears to have closed somewhat recently.

On our drive up, I stopped to look around Royalton, MN. One of the buildings in town had this psychedelic old 7 Up sign, hanging above their door. I definitely remember this sign hanging off the front of the State Bank of Hawley. I made sure to take the picture here, since I had no idea if it was still hanging in Hawley.

Turns out it was long gone.

But there was a nice hand painted mural on the building…

Represented are the Hawley Rodeo, a choo-choo, the Nuggets (representing the high school) and the Hjemkomst. 

And a strange perspective -yet colorful- mural painted on the side of the Reach Reusables building. I'm a bigger fan of the black lumpy circles around it.

Let's look at some more grain elevator fire photos from local news sources.

Photo from Bring Me the News, courtesy of Melissa Cossette.

Fairly early on in the fire. Part of the small single-story building, with the boarded up windows is still intact. Just under the fire truck's slightly extended ladder.

Photo from WDAY News.

This picture is quite intense. A massive wall of burning wood, stories tall. Over a quarter of the exterior shell has collapsed, exposing the other side, smoldering from the ground, seven stories high. Another 20 feet of lames shoots up out the other side of the building. As beautiful as it is horrifying. Made all the more intense by the fire coming at night. Daylight wouldn't show such spectacular images. 

Photo from KFGO News.

By sunrise, the entire elevator building was declared a total loss. The rest of the standing structure was quickly pulled down to ensure the fire was fully extinguished. The fire was declared "under control" around 6:30am Monday morning. Although changing winds caused flare ups that needed to be put out late Monday night, and again early Tuesday morning. 

I don't like how they boarded up all of the large windows on the old Hawley Co-Op Creamery. Replacing them with much smaller and ill-fitting windows. Not a good look for a building that deserves better.

A little further down the block, I found another building I really liked...

This decent sized retail space was last leased by Mandolin Crafts.

Which I had to figure out on my own since the sign was pretty much unreadable. 

Peeking inside some very dirty windows shows some furniture and fixtures left behind.

And a bunch of chairs. The floor consists of very old wooden planks. This could be a very nice space if fixed up and modernized. But I'm not sure what you'd do with it. Bringing new business to a small town would be great if we still lived in a time where that was practical. So you look at a building like this an wonder what will ever become of it?

Will it just sit here like this, ignored for years with nothing ever looking at opening or fixing it up? Because why would anyone? Make a clothing store... Okay, how do you compete with the WalMarts 20 miles on either side of town? Restaurant? Maybe, but again you're competing with the other restaurants in a very small market. 

So what do you do with it?

Pretty much it's just going to sit here. Occasionally someone like me will walk by and appreciate it for a minute or so. It's basically a time capsule. One that's open to view, instead of hidden behind coverings, like so many of the vacant buildings in this once busy downtown.

Further down the the street is the location of the Hawley Herald. A sign at the roof says: "Hawley Bakery 1948" While it looks newer, this building is approaching 80 years old. For much of that 80 years, a town's newspaper was the most common method of passing local news, With the advances possible via the internet, newspapers (especially small, local ones), are rapidly disappearing. I hate that newspapers and magazines are endangered species, given how much I've enjoyed reading them all throughout my life. 

After the grain elevator fire, I asked my aunt if she could take some pictures of the pile of ashes where the elevator last was. The picture she sent back didn't show much because of limited access and just plain not much left. She said she'd send out the Hawley Herald newspaper when it was printed.

Awesome!

The first was dated February 26, 2024, and didn't feature much information, as it was printed the day the fire was still being extinguished. My scanner wasn't big enough to get the full sheet on the glass. But I'll bet you can't tell where the separation was!

Before continuing, I want to make a quick mention of the weather forecast on the right side of the Hawley Herald header...

ENHANCE!

This is the weather forecast for a town in northern Minnesota. In FEBRUARY! 

A four day span with a range in temperature from 62 degrees, all the way down to 8 degrees, and back up to 50 degrees. This is not February in Minnesota. I don't know what this is, but it's getting kind of scary. I live in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis, and we haven't seen 10 inches of snow this winter in TOTAL. 

Sure, it's been great, I've only used the snowblower once and it's mid-March. We've only had one or two days with a temperature below zero. Instead of 25 days of that in a row. 

But this is going to come at a price. The lack of snow is absolutely going to affect farming communities and areas like Hawley. If the pendulum swings back over the summer, we could be in for some nasty storms. There's definitely something strange going on this year, comparing it to weather seen in Denver, Colorado (where I lived for over 20 years), they got our winter. With tons of snow and ice. We've had the lightest winter in my lifetime. Making some of the mild winters I enjoyed out west seem downright treacherous compared to the Minnesota Winter of 23/24. 

So what's in the newspaper today?

"Fire Destroys Hawley Elevator"

Simple headline and two photos that tell it all.

With another week to prepare, the Hawley Herald ran a better series of photos in the March 4, 2024 issue:

"The Iconic Hawley Skyline was Changed Forever"

(That's a little grandiose...)

Nice, a picture of the fire including the not yet burned painted Hawley sign.

Fire is just spraying out of the roof.

This is an amazing picture.

Ladder crew trying to douse the fire from above.

Shouldn't that read: "You could see the flames from blocks away."

Or should that read: "Yo, I could see the flames from blocks away."

Either way would be correct, but one would add a whole new dimension to the photo...

Amazing set of photos detailing a significant piece of the town that is now gone forever.

As I’m getting ready to head back out to the freeway, I’ll take a look back up the hill at downtown Hawley.

Such an occasion calls for another one of my famous flawlessly assembled panoramic photos! Two photos expertly melded together seamlessly to the extent that I bet no one could ever tell the area where two photos combined!

Bad panorama, taken at Valley Street and 5th Street, looking north. With the back of the H.E.R.T. building (Hawley Emergency Response Team), at center right. As you'd imagine, they played a role in assisting with the fire crews working on the grain elevator. Last seen peeking out just above the H.E.R.T. roofline.

Once my downtown Hawley photo needs were satisfied, I drove down to Valley Street, where I had just been standing. Valley Street serves as a frontage road for highway 10. Which also has it's own, very narrow, underpass with the railroad tracks going overhead. 

40 years ago, there was always interesting and funny graffiti painted on the cement sides of this bridge. I was hoping for something profound to appear on these surfaces. 

Restricted Clearance was all I got.

To close this out I’ll do the equivalent of a dramatic fading crane shot. But since this isn’t a motion picture, I’ll have to achieve this through a series of screen captures from KVLY TV’s drone shot. 

I'll always have a soft spot for Hawley, MN. Given all of my 40-something year old memories of Hawley, and the surrounding area, I'm always going to care about what's going on in this town. 

When I heard about the grain elevator fire, my first thought was how that changes Hawley's' identity. Not that its most notable factor was a seldom used grain elevator, but that was the first defining building you saw when coming into town. It was visible from Highway 10, as well as roads approaching from the north and south.

A rebuild is highly unlikely. From this point on, Hawley will look very different. Nothing really changes, there's just a significant piece of the town's history missing.

With as fast as things are moving these days, it's a notable loss.

Wait... What?!?