like Stillwater, and railroads hauled the lumber. Communities sprang up around the railroads. The Minneapolis & St. Croix Railroad was extended through Washington County in 1883; in 1888, this railroad merged with three others to form the Soo Line Railroad. Two rail lines converged at Withrow, making it an important railway and telegraph station; in 1887, a depot was built that turned out to be far larger than the village ever needed. At one point, the railroad maintained telegraph operators and depot agents 24 hours a day, with at least one permanently assigned depot agent. It was a busy place, with nearly thirty freight trains and passenger trains coming through town daily, and a favorite rest stop for transients riding the rails. The rail crossing at Withrow took a heavy toll of victims over the years. After the creamery closed, the Soo Line bought the building which had housed the butter maker as a residence for the station agent. The number of trains dropped to sixteen in the early 1960s; only four of those were passenger trains, and Withrow became a flag stop. Like many towns dependent on the railroad, Withrow lost much of its industry with the passing of the railroad era. The Soo Line discontinued passenger service to Withrow in 1963. In July 1990, a Soo Line crane and flatcar traveled to Withrow and demolished the Withrow depot. The Canadian National Railway's Dresser Subdivision at Withrow has been taken out of service. Schools Before 1955, there were three schools located in the Withrow area. Each school was known by a number. School #10, a one-room schoolhouse, was on 100th Street and Lansing Avenue North. School #40, another one-room schoolhouse, was located on Lynch Road. On the west side of the intersection of Washington County Road7 and County Road8A in Oneka Township was a third one-room school, #51, built in 1871. The first teacher at this school was Mary Withrow, with an enrollment of 32 students. Clarence LeRoy Kinyon owned straddling County Road7 at this location, and this school came to be known as the Kinyon School. In 1877 a new school district was organized, and this school was renumbered #63. Thomas Withrow became a member of the new school board, and enrollment increased to 56 students, with Lizzie Withrow appointed as the teacher. In March 1952 the Board of Education for the Stillwater area made the recommendation to