FredericWisconsin

Welcome to Frederic, the best of all worlds.

A small town with a lake in the middle, trails out the back door and neighbors who wave.

Fall color reflected in Coon Lake beside the boardwalk bridge

Next board meeting

2nd Monday, 7 pm

Village Hall, 110 Oak Street E. Open to the public.

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    Shop Frederic first

    70 local businesses keep this village going: cafes and taverns, hardware and groceries, artists, mechanics, makers and manufacturers.

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          Village Hall is open Monday to Friday, 9 am to 3 pm. The payment dropbox at the front of the building is open around the clock.

          1,154Residents, 2020 census
          54Acres of Coon Lake, inside the village
          80Acres of community hardwood forest
          7Village parks
          47Miles of Gandy Dancer Trail, southern segment
          1,200Miles of Ice Age Trail, roughly, across Wisconsin

          Follow the yellow blazes.

          The Ice Age National Scenic Trail follows the edge of the last glacier across Wisconsin, from the Door Peninsula to the St. Croix River. It is one of eleven National Scenic Trails in the country, marked with yellow blazes.

          Its western end is at Interstate State Park in St. Croix Falls. From there it shares the old Soo Line grade with the Gandy Dancer Trail for about 19 miles, past Luck, then heads east toward Straight Lake State Park.

          Hiking near Frederic
          • 47 mi

            Gandy Dancer State Trail

            Runs right through Frederic on crushed limestone. Bike, walk or run in summer (bikes need a state trail pass). Snowmobiles in winter.

          • 15.5 mi

            Ice Age Trail: Gandy Dancer Segment

            A level walk on the shared rail grade, through small Polk County towns and farm country on a glacial outwash plain.

          • 4.3 mi

            Ice Age Trail: Trade River Segment

            Boardwalks through the Trade River headwaters, and a big basalt boulder left behind by the Superior Ice Lobe.

          • Start

            Interstate State Park

            The trail's western end, on the St. Croix River in St. Croix Falls. Wisconsin's first state park.

          From logging camp to trail town

          1. The Frederic Soo Line depot 1901

            The Soo Line depot is built in Minneapolis, shipped up the line and put together in Frederic.

          2. Early Frederic street with Model T cars 1903

            Frederic is founded as a logging village and grows into the trade center for northern Polk and southern Burnett counties.

          3. Frederic's Main Street with mid-century cars and storefronts 1961

            The last passenger trains between the Twin Cities and Duluth stop at Frederic on June 25.

          4. Red Soo Line caboose number 137 1989

            Rail service ends. The village takes over the depot, now the Frederic Area Museum, and the grade becomes the Gandy Dancer Trail.

          Depot museum open weekends and holidays, 11 am to 3 pm, Memorial Day through leaf season. Free. Plan a visit

          Around town

          The Frederic Area Chamber puts on Frederic Family Days every June and Christmas in Frederic in December. The library lives in the old theater, renovated into the second largest library in Polk County.

          Visiting?

          Parks, Coon Lake & trails Soo Line Depot & Museum Local businesses Events

          Frederic sits on Highways 35 and 48, about an hour and a half north of the Twin Cities and south of Duluth and Superior.