Royalton, Minnesota is about 17 miles southwest of Buckman. It seems to have been their preferred railhead and feed mill once the short-lived mill in Buckman burned down.
Royalton was also the post office that served Buckman RFD for quite a few years. Two interesting websites for more info are the Village of Royalton website and something called lakesnwoods, for vintage pictures.
This first picture was taken c. 1889, and I'm pretty sure it's Center Street, the main east-west street in town. The wood piled on the right almost had to be the early lumberyard....
The picture below is one Larry found yesterday. A lot more buildings now, so we know it was after 1889 ☺. Enlarged, you can see a few horses on the street and a fire bell tower in the center (That and what looks like a church steeple on the right horizon threw me off at first). I think this pic was taken from what is now the intersection with Hiway 10. The lumberyard would be a block away on the right.
It's especially cool to compare the buildings--
see the two in the center in both pics? Click to biggify.
Interesting that the "Street Scene" was published in Germany. BTW, Dr. McGonagle was a dentist in Royalton about this time. Maybe he was a young doc with a camera then, and was still around in the 1960s and 70s? I know Grandma and Aunt Fronie mentioned the name, but I don't remember in what context.
Any guesses about when the second photo was taken?
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