Red Top, Minnesota facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Redtop
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 Redtop
Location in Minnesota
Redtop
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | Minnesota |
| County | Aitkin |
| Township | Idun Township |
| Elevation | 1,286 ft (392 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP code |
56350
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| Area code(s) | 320 |
| GNIS feature ID | 649898 |
Redtop (sometimes spelled Red Top) is a small, unincorporated community in Aitkin County, Minnesota, United States. It's located in Idun Township.
This community is found northeast of Isle and southwest of McGrath.
Contents
History of Redtop
Redtop is a small community that started because of the railroad. It was officially founded in 1908. The community is located in southern Aitkin County, about 4 miles east of Mille Lacs Lake. In 2008, Redtop celebrated its 100th birthday!
How Redtop Began
The Soo Line Railroad bought the land for Redtop in May 1908. Their land company, Tri-State Land Company, laid out the lots for houses and businesses. They used tamarack stakes to mark the areas. Redtop became an official community on August 6, 1908, when the Aitkin County Board approved its plan.
A land sale was held in Minneapolis on August 17, but not many lots were sold. The company realized that clearing the land and building roads would help sell more lots later.
The Name of Redtop
The name "Red Top" was chosen by someone from the Tri-State Land Company. There are two main stories about how it got its name.
One popular story says it was named after Olivia Matilda Erickson. She was a Swedish immigrant with red hair who worked as a cook in the area. People often called her "Redtop." A sawmill nearby was already known as the Red Top Saw Mill, which might have been named after her too.
The other idea is that the town was named after a type of grass called redtop grass that grew in the area. We don't have definite proof for either story because the original railroad notes were lost. Olivia Erickson later married and lived to be 90 years old.
Life in Early Redtop
The first building in Redtop was the Haggberg Store, built in late 1908. This store also became home to the Redtop Post Office in 1909. Soon, other buildings appeared, like a Railroad Depot, a Hotel and Restaurant, another store (Kalberg Store) that even sold cars, a Freight Warehouse, and a Norwegian Lutheran Church. There was also a Stockyard and an American Legion Hall.
Most people living around Redtop were immigrants or their children, often from Scandinavia. They worked very hard and didn't have much money. But they still found ways to have fun and joke around, even when times were tough.
For example, during a serious flu outbreak, someone joked about bringing a "flu stop" to the hotel. Everyone looked, and it turned out to be a metal cover for a chimney flue!
In 1918, when the big Moose Lake Fire was burning, people in Redtop were very worried. The railroad had a special train ready to evacuate people if needed. Many residents dug holes in their yards to bury their valuable things, just in case they had to leave quickly. Luckily, a rainstorm finally put out the fire.
Redtop almost had a town square park on Main Street. It had a huge stone and concrete stand with a tall tamarack pole for a flagpole. Today, only broken pieces of the flagpole stand remain.
In 1909, the East Side Telephone Company brought telephone service to Redtop. In 1948 and 1949, residents were excited to get electricity from the North Pine Electric Cooperative.
Surprisingly, Redtop even had a kind of "airport" in the 1940s! It was just a field on the north side of town. A wind sock on a tamarack pole acted as the "control tower." Pilots like Arnold Pinz and Henry Paulson flew planes in and out of Redtop.
Redtop Today
The first businesses in Redtop were also the last ones to close. The Redtop store shut down in the early 1950s, and the Post Office closed in April 1954.
Eventually, Redtop lost its railroad. The railroad was the main reason the community existed. The train tracks were removed from Redtop in June 1992.
Over time, as timber ran out and farming changed, there wasn't as much need for many small towns close together. Redtop was not near a big lake or a major highway, so it slowly faded as a town. However, Redtop was never officially a city with its own government. It has always been an unincorporated community, and it still is. It remains a community near the city of Isle.
Other communities along the old Soo Brooten Line:
This information comes from the book Track and Timber the History of Red Top Minnesota.
Images for kids
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The original 1908 map of Redtop
