CStPM&O & CNW

Hannibal Sub-Division

Brunet Wisconsin

     Just over one half mile South of Cornell was a siding and depot called Brunet. Brunet was named after Jean Brunet, a French-Indian Settler who was one of the original founders of Cornell. Brunet Falls was once a noteworthy falls and rapids in the Chippewa river that now lays beneath the lake in front of the dam at the mill.  

     Six tenths of a mile south of the Cornell depot was the Brunet Depot. This little town, like hatch, was used for similar trade. Machinery and cattle could be delivered or sent just outside of Cornell without disrupting the city streets in it's earlier years. 

     There are virtually few records of this little village but it is believed that this town called Brunet was referred to as Shanty Town by the local residents of Cornell. Shanty town was in this location and consisted of many sub standard houses built and used by workers of the railroad and logging industry. Both of these professions in the early 1900's used many workers due to lack of automation that we take for granted today.

The picture on the left shows Shanty-town which would have been in the location of Brunet. The housing is on the right, depot appears to be on the left, and in the distance a load is being transferred on or off of a buckboard wagon. Smaller communities like Brunet just disappeared when the work dissipated and the people had to move to find other sources of income.

     Eventually the area where the Brunet depot was would host service to a company in the 60's called Fireproof and I believe a lumber yard. Fireproof manufactured panels used for fire barriers in buildings, and other similar products. One could speculate that raw materials were delivered by rail including asbestos for manufacturing, as well as shipments of fire resistant sheets used in construction.

Brunet eventually became the turnaround for engines after 1943 when the track was abandoned between Cornell and Holcombe. The 1980's map at the left shows the "Y" turnaround where brunet originally was.