The coming of the railroad transformed Pine River and much of north central Minnesota, bringing settlers, visitors, mail, news, and goods while opening the region to logging, farming, and community growth. Minnesota had no railroads in 1860, but within twenty years more than 3,000 miles of track crossed the state, helping attract immigrants and encourage settlement in places such as Pine River, Nisswa, Pequot Lakes, Jenkins, Backus, and Hackensack. Pine River began with George Barclay’s trading post in 1873 and expanded around the Brainerd & Northern Minnesota Railroad, which rerouted its line through Barclay’s ranch in 1894 and built a depot there in 1895 after first using one of the ranch buildings as a temporary office. The depot, the oldest building in town, served continuously from 1895 to 1985, welcoming travelers and settlers and supporting business and industry; so many immigrants arrived by rail in the early 1900s that it was likened to an Ellis Island. As the railroad carried away the pine forests, cutover lands opened to farming and settlement, and Pine River grew into a vibrant rail-based community. Control of the line passed to the Minnesota & International in 1901, which extended the route to International Falls and altered the depot, with final major changes made in 1913 when a canopy and women’s waiting room were added and the platform was rebuilt as a closed brick-paved structure. Management later passed to the Northern Pacific in 1941 and Burlington Northern in 1970, before the last train went through in July 1985 and the depot was abandoned. A grassroots preservation effort beginning in 2000 saved the building, and in 2009 the depot and platform were moved to a new site across the former mainline, preserving a landmark that helped create the town.