Cisco is a place name for the remnants of a former unincorporated community located along the Soo Line Railroad

Soo Line Railroad

The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , controlled through the Soo Line Corporation, and one of seven U.S. Class I railroads. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste...

 and US 59 in the NW 1/4 of Section 11 of Badger Township

Badger Township, Minnesota

Badger Township is a township in Polk County, Minnesota, United States. It is part of the 'Grand Forks-ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area'. Under the United States Public Land Survey System it is a survey township identified as Township 149 North, Range 42 West, Fifth Principal Meridian...

, 149 North, Range 42 West, in Polk County

Polk County, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 31,369 people, 12,070 households, and 8,050 families residing in the county. The population density was 16 people per square mile . There were 14,008 housing units at an average density of 7 per square mile...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, approximately four miles north of the city of Erskine

Erskine, Minnesota

Erskine is a city in Polk County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 503 at the 2010 census. It is part of the 'Grand Forks- ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area'.-Geography:...

, and about the same distance south of the city of Brooks

Brooks, Minnesota

Brooks is a city in Red Lake County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 141 at the 2010 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land.U.S...

.

Cisco was still in use as a place name by local people as late as 1990, but now is but a dim memory among some of the old-timers.

History

Beginning with the construction of the railroad in the late 19th century until the late 1940s, Cisco was a water station and rail siding on the Soo Line Railroad

Soo Line Railroad

The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , controlled through the Soo Line Corporation, and one of seven U.S. Class I railroads. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste...

. At one time, Cisco boasted a grain elevator

Grain elevator

A grain elevator is a tower containing a bucket elevator, which scoops up, elevates, and then uses gravity to deposit grain in a silo or other storage facility...

, a stockyard

Feedlot

A feedlot or feedyard is a type of animal feeding operation which is used in factory farming for finishing livestock, notably beef cattle, but also swine, horses, sheep, turkeys, chickens or ducks, prior to slaughter. Large beef feedlots are called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations . They...

, a general store

General store

A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...

 and a school (District 146, commonly known as the Cisco School), in addition to the railroad facilities and several homes. After the demise of steam locomotion, the railroad no longer stopped in Cisco. By 1938, the elevator and stockyards had been torn down, the school had been consolidated and discontinued operations (the physical building having been moved to Marcoux Corner), and the store had closed forever. By 1983, Cisco had shrunk to a couple of houses, both of which, like the town, are merely a memory in 2010.

Further reading

• Thirteen Townships Centennial Celebration, 'The Centennial History of the Thirteen Towns' (Richards Publishing Co., Inc., Gonvick, Minnesota, 1983), at p. 3.