This impressive limestone-block building—now the Stone Mill Hotel & Suites—brought together two driving forces in Lanesboro’s early history: agriculture and railroads. It’s also a place that has one delightful story.

First, some history. Lanesboro’s earliest homes didn’t have electricity—or refrigerators, of course. In the late 1880s the Nelson brothers did something about that by creating a cold storage building. Its thick, limestone walls and limited windows made it a perfect facility in which to store winter ice harvested from nearby ponds. Ice was now available and the owners soon added a chicken business. Poultry and eggs were shipped by railroad, made easier by the rail line running next to this building. Before long Lanesboro chickens and eggs were being sent all over the Midwest—and beyond.

How far beyond? That’s where that delightful story comes in. Local folks, mostly young women, worked here preparing eggs for shipment. In the mid-1940s, one young worker—Eleanor Johnson (later Davidson)—playfully wrote her address on an egg. Months later Eleanor received a letter back from a girl who found that egg—in England! The two became pen pals; decades later Eleanor even traveled to London to meet her friend. An egg-cellent Lanesboro story!

Different owners continued the ice and chicken business here for most of the 1900s. In 1938 the Hager family added a feed mill. In 1999 the Lamon family (Rick was Lanesboro’s long-time school superintendent) purchased the property and re-fashioned it to meet lodging needs for Lanesboro’s growing tourist population.

The Stone Mill: a place of great history, fun stories, and new life in the 21st century. That sounds a lot like Lanesboro!