End of historic US highway 371 [I]
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Approx. time
period
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North Terminus
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South Terminus
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1932-1971
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Bemidji, MN
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Little Falls, MN
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(about 58 k)
Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical
road atlases, much of the info below is based on the research of Robert Droz;
click here to view his
site. Photo credits: Monte
Castleman; Jeff
Morrison
The original US 371 was commissioned in 1932, and lasted for about 40 years.
The photo below is in Bemidji, looking northeast at the intersection of Washington
Avenue at Paul Bunyan Drive. This historic junction has been reconfigured a
bit in recent years...
Morrison,
May 2007
...making it a little difficult to visualize how things used to be. To the
lower right is Washington, which was originally southbound US 71. To the left
on Washington (which is now part of Paul Bunyan) was northbound US 71 as well
as westbound US 2. Eastbound US 2 was off to the center right on Paul Bunyan,
and that was also the north beginning of US 371. The signage at the traffic
signal is shown close-up below:
Morrison,
May 2007
US 2 and US 71 are both on newer bypasses now, so the road through here has
been renumbered as MN 197. From that intersection, US 371 was co-signed with
US 2 east for about 15 miles to Cass Lake. From there, it followed what is now
MN 371 through Brainerd, and ended at US 10 in Little Falls. The photo below
is looking south on 1st Street:
Morrison, May
2007
US 371 ended there at Broadway. To the right was westbound US 10, while straight
ahead was eastbound US 10. In the photo below, we're looking west on Broadway:
Castleman,
2005
Before today's bypass was built around the north and east sides of Little Falls,
southbound US 10 was to the left on 1st, and northbound went straight ahead,
crossing the Mississippi River before turning north again. To the right on 1st
was the south beginning of US 371 [I].
US 371 was decommissioned in 1971, and replaced with today's MN 371 designation.
The Little Falls bypass was built just a year or two later, so now neither US
10 nor MN 371 come through this intersection. About 20 years later, the US 371
designation was recycled and applied to another highway in a completely different
part of the country; you can read about its endpoints on this
page.
Page created 30 May 2001; last updated 14 June 2007.
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