(The following article by Chuck Frederick was posted on the Duluth News Tribune website on May 9.)
DULUTH, Minn. — No matter what happens, Proctor will be OK.
The small rail town just up the hill from West Duluth has rolled for decades with the fortunes and misfortunes of an employer long known as Mother Missabe.
This week, with Canadian National expected to complete its purchase of the Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Railway Co., community leaders and residents say their small town will survive and continue to thrive.
“We’re not going to fade into oblivion,” Mayor Richard Kieren said. “We’re hoping CN uses all the properties it is buying. We hope they realize they have a fantastic work force here, very knowledgeable people, and that there is some top-notch equipment here.
“We’re hoping the sale just means a change in name,” the mayor said.
He may be a bit optimistic.
CN already has outlined plans to close car- and locomotive-repair shops in Proctor. City leaders concede the sale could lead to the end of railroading altogether in a city built on the romance of the rails and on the backs of railroad workers.
“It could be devastating,” said John Foschi, city administrator. “But we’re only hoping for positives.”
“It’s wait and see right now,” Kieren said. “We haven’t really gotten any good information. No one has. Our conversation with CN a couple of months ago was upbeat, but we realize we’re going to be affected.”
Being affected by the railroad is nothing new for Proctor. The city was first settled in 1892 when the Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railroad extended into Duluth. The plateau atop the hillside that became Proctor proved perfect for engine shops, storage buildings and classification yards.
At first, Proctor was known as White City because of all the white tents that popped up to house railroad employees. In 1894, the tent city was incorporated as Proctorknott, named for a Kentucky congressman who delivered a satirical speech ridiculing Duluth.
Fueled by a mining boom on the Iron Range, Proctor’s population soared from 784 in 1900 to 2,243 a decade later. The number of railroad workers in Proctor eventually topped out at more than 4,000 from the 1940s through the 1960s.
“It was a busy town, and the rail yards were much better kept. They had gardens and parks around all the railroad property,” said Charles Clover, 76, owner of the drug store in Proctor for more than 40 years. “The railroad yards — for those of us who grew up here — they’re sad to see the way they are now.”
The railroad used to take better care of its employees, too, said Bob Talarico, who grew up and lived for 40 years in Proctor.
“I remember my grandmother telling me stories of people having a hard time,” Talarico said. “The railroad would send a crew over to paint their house or do whatever needed doing. The railroad used to benefit the city a lot more.”
Railroad jobs began to dwindle, particularly after the 1971 closure of the U.S. Steel plant in Duluth and the rise of technology and automation in the railroad industry. About 250 employees work in the Proctor rail yards now, and only 63 of them live in Proctor, according to the 2000 census.
The city has long suffered with the loss of railroad jobs. As American society became more mobile, Proctor residents began to commute to jobs and to chain stores in Duluth. Of 1,376 Proctor residents holding jobs in 2000, only 227 actually worked in Proctor. That means 84 percent of the city’s work force commuted out of town, according to census figures.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Proctor’s mom-and-pop groceries, pharmacies, clothing stores and other businesses closed. The city became more a bedroom community and Duluth suburb.
“There have been a lot of dark days,” said City Councilor Jake Benson, the second generation of his family to run the city’s weekly newspaper.
Brighter days dawned for Proctor in about the mid-1990s. Along the I-35 corridor, a McDonald’s restaurant, two gas stations, two hotels and a Blackwoods restaurant went up.
In 1997, city leaders hired a lobbyist for the first time to promote their interests at the Minnesota Legislature.
In 2000, they coined a slogan to market their community to new residents and businesses: “You Have a Place in Proctor.” After more than two decades without a new housing development, construction crews this spring are building homes at six sites around town.
In 2001, Proctor built a $3.2 million city hall and community activity center and a new $260,000 clubhouse at the municipal golf course. The Minnesota Department of Transportation invested $1.6 million to rebuild U.S. Highway 2 through downtown. Turn lanes, sidewalks and landscaped medians were added. Downtown storefronts refilled.
Also in 2001, voters approved spending $13.9 million to improve their schools. The outdated Proctor Junior High and Intermediate School was closed. A new middle school was built onto the high school; four classrooms and a media center were added at Pike Lake Elementary; four classrooms and a playground were built at Bayview Elementary; and athletic improvements included a new outdoor track at the high school and a new field house at the middle school.
“You worry about the future and what’s going to happen with the railroad,” Benson said. “But on the other hand, you look at what else is going on in this city right now. It’s vibrant. We’re doing well.
“The future seems to be in good hands,” Benson said. “We seem to have the foundation to weather this sale.”
Patrick Neve certainly hopes so. In March, the Proctor native bought the Iron Horse, a bar that shares a locomotive’s nickname.
“We’re counting on Proctor to continue to be a thriving community,” said Neve, who has since changed the name of his bar to the Tailgate as part of a quest for a fresh start. “We wouldn’t have bought this place if we didn’t’ think the city’s future was bright.”
Plenty of customers are willing to spend money in Proctor, said Phyllis Colt. She worked for many years at the Wok N-Grill restaurant, but has been at the Railway Pizzeria and Deli the three years it’s been open.
Clienteles are changing, she said.
“We used to get lots of railroad guys, mornings, afternoons, all the time. Now we just don’t get that many anymore,” she said. “It’s more families now — school kids, just people from the community and tourists. Lots of tourists. This town has really changed already. A little more change shouldn’t hurt.”
Unless, of course, that change means someone in your family is losing a job or being transferred out of town. City leaders are choosing to remain upbeat, in part, because they hope to dodge personal anguish anywhere in their town.
“Proctor, hopefully, will still be an important place for railroading,” Benson said. “We’re expecting the worst but hoping for the best.”
“We’re carrying on with a positive attitude, but we realize it certainly could be less than that,” Foschi said. “We do have some faith in the CN being a well-managed organization. We’re relying on our faith right now.”
“We’ve weathered so much already,” said Jim Schwarzbauer, School Board chairman. “It seems everything is improving now. We’re going to come out OK.”