MNNR Edgerton Street Bridge

In 1870, the Stillwater and St. Paul Railroad Company (S&StP) constructed a 13 mile route between the existing railroad at White Bear Lake and Stillwater, Minnesota. In 1871, the Minneapolis and Duluth Railroad Company (M&D) built a short route between East Minneapolis at the Great Northern wye, near the corner of Hennepin Avenue and Central Avenue SE; to M&D Junction, near Goose Lake in White Bear Lake. The M&D would be consolidated into the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway (M&StL) in 1881. The M&StL would be reorganized as the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad in 1894. By 1899, the S&StP would be sold to the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad (StP&D). The StP&D would be sold to the Northern Pacific Railway (NP) in 1900, and the East Minneapolis to M&D Junction line would be sold to the NP the following year.

The NP operated these lines as branches, serving industrial areas of the Twin Cities. At an unknown time prior to 1968, the line between the Great Northern and Northern Pacific lines in East Minneapolis was abandoned. In 1970, NP would merge with rival Great Northern Railway and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy to form Burlington Northern Railroad (BN). In 1985, BN would abandon the White Bear Lake to Stillwater segment of this route, and sell the portion east of Duluth Junction (Grant) to the tourist railroad Minnesota Zephyr, part of the Minnesota Transportation Museum. In 1996, BN merged with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to form BNSF Railway. BNSF leased the remaining portions of the line to Minnesota Commercial, which continues to operate it. The Minnesota Zephyr was abandoned in 2012, and the railroad turned into the Browns Creek Trail.