Train service played a major part in the birth of towns across the country and that was also true in Wakefield¹s history. The train track ran through the town and was completed from Sioux City, Iowa, to Wakefield in 1881.

The first depot was built that same year and finished January 1, 1882. The first depot was made of clapboard which didn't hold up very well so around 1925, a second depot was built on the same spot as the first one.

The railroad was an important part of Wakefield's growth, soon after it was built through the town, there was a need for more hotels to accommodate passengers who were waiting for connections. J.F. Slinger¹s hotel had a restaurant in it to help take care of hungry travelers, as well as Mrs. C. Porter¹s restaurant that was at the depot.

 Harold Tell of Branson, Mo., (originally of  Wakefield), remembers being at the depot when he was about 5 or 6 years old and hiding under the ticket booth with his friends. They would listen to the telegraph and Tell would dream of what it would be like to run one. Eventually he did, he worked for Northwestern Railroad for 40 years, part of that time as a telegrapher and

35 years as a corporate officer. Tell noted there were 22 to 28 trains a day that came through Wakefield in the late 1920s and early CEOs; six to eight of those were passenger trains and the rest were for freight.

 Tell said that sometimes whole oil trains from oil fields in Wyoming came through, as well as cattle trains from cattle yards in Long Pine. The route for the trains was from Omaha to Emerson, then to Wakefield where there was a split and track went to Bloomfield or to Wayne; from Wayne the track went on to Winter, SD. Tell moved away from Wakefield in 1949.

Around 1940, trains in and out of the town no longer carried passengers, only freight until March 15, 1977, when the last Chicago Northwestern Transportation Company train came through. The M.G. Waldbaum Co. (now Michael Foods, Inc. - had storage and offices there after that time.

Recently, Michael Foods gave the depot and $5,000 for renovation to W.H.O.

(Wakefield Heritage Organization) to be used as a museum. Lefty Olson¹s Wakefield Memorabilia as well as old railroad items from Harold Tell will be at the museum.