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2003 Most Endangered Places
Coghlan Castle - 1904 [In Progress] How many castles do you know of in North Dakota? On a hill east of St. John sits the "Coghlan Castle," complete with stone turret and tower windows. Maurice Coghlan and sons, enterprising Irishmen who homesteaded in Rolette County in 1883, built the castle of native fieldstone in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The stonemason in charge of assembling the exterior walls, which are two feet thick, was from Killarny, Manitoba. John Coghlan, brother of Maurice, came from his home in Boston to help with the work. John was a master carpenter and cabinetmaker who did a lot of ornate woodwork on the interior of passenger and Pullman cars for the railroad companies of that time. It was probably he who was responsible for the diamond inlay in the living room's hardwood floor. The house was described as "ultra modern" for its day including running water, a hot water heating plant, bathtub, inside toilet facilities and a skylight in the upstairs bathroom. There are five large main rooms downstairs, foyer, and a butler's pantry off the kitchen. The fireplace was faced with a hard, glazed granite-like material. Upstairs are five large bedrooms, including the turret room with the little dormer windows in the cathedral ceiling adding their light to the space. Besides the grand staircase in the front, there was a back stairs leading from the kitchen.
The house has been vacant since the late 1950s. Some partying youths in the 1960s built a bonfire in one of the rooms on the first floor resulting in a hole in the floor and wall and the loss of the grand staircase. Rocks have been plundered from the face of the house and the foundation is starting to crumble. No doors or windows remain on the exterior of the house and the absence of most of the wood shingles on the roof has allowed the elements to ravage the interior of the building as well. It is imperative that the exterior of this old home be stabilized as soon as possible to ensure its survival for the benefit of future generations.  A group of local residents interested in preserving the Coghlan Castle has asked Preservation North Dakota for assistance. The group plans to take part in our local affiliate program. Once up and running, its new Board of Directors will raise funds and recruit volunteers to assist with the project. They hope to begin stabilization of the building this summer. Beyond the initial stabilization, the group plans to use the home and its history to promote tourism in the area. For more information contact Becky Leonard at 701-477-3149. Hutmacher Farmstead - 1911 through 1961 [In Progress] Read more about the PND Hutmacher Farmstead Special Project. The Hutmacher Farmstead is actually comprised of two adjacent farm sites, built using a traditional, ethnically distinctive architecture that originated in the Black Sea region of Russia and Ukraine. The buildings are of stone slab construction, and were extremely labor-intensive to construct and maintain, but highly appropriate in terms of environmental response and use of locally available materials. The six structures at the Frank Hutmacher farm site include a house, below-grade cellar, some remains of a barn/granary, a kitchen/butchering shed, poultry barn and another outbuilding that may have stabled livestock at one time. The site also includes the ruins of the Valentine Hutmacher farmstead. St. Edwards Cemetery lies between the two farmsteads and features iron cross grave markers. The Frank Hutmacher house was constructed and added-to over several years’ time (1928 to 1963). Unhewn Badlands Cedar rafters bear on the two-foot thick masonry walls and on a Cottonwood ridge beam at the peak of the roof. Willow branches, flax straw and clay then covered the entire roof assembly. Two beehive-shaped, clay-coated chimneys originally served freestanding, cast iron stoves in which the Hutmachers burned coal they harvested from a nearby coal vein. Exterior surfaces of the sandstone walls were originally covered with a mixture of chopped straw and clay mud gumbo that remains visible in several locations.
Built by immigrants that sought little more than a sustainable existence, the Hutmacher Farmstead reflects several aspects of its builders' cultural identity; their optimism about agriculture on the northern Plains and, in the buildings’ decline, give us an opportunity to reflect on processes of cultural assimilation and abandonment which are so much a part of life on the Plains at the turn of the twenty-first century. For many years, the Hutmacher Farmstead has been protected in a sense, by its relative remoteness. In use until 1971, several of the buildings are at considerable risk of being lost due to processes of natural decay. Not only at risk are the buildings themselves but the durable values these buildings express in stone and clay which continue to outlive cultural change and tell us so much about the people who built and lived in them. The Farmstead was surveyed in 1995, in a cooperative effort of North Dakota State University and the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Deterioration since that survey has been significant, and it is essential that a plan for stabilizing the condition of the property be put into place immediately to halt further deterioration. The Hutmacher Farmstead was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and was recently awarded recognition as a designated "Save America's Treasures" project. Preservation North Dakota is trying to build a partnership of organizations to work towards preserving the site. There is currently no funding in place for the project, but it is hoped that the increased visibility this listing provides may encourage an individual or organization to step forward as a financial supporter. The challenge to the preservation community is two-fold, first halt the deterioration and stabilize the structures, and second develop a plan for continued monitoring of the site to ensure that any necessary maintenance is accomplished on an annual basis. The site is a tremendous educational opportunity for our state’s residents and those visiting to learn about life on the western plains of North Dakota. For more information on the project contact Preservation North Dakota, 701-633-2763 or info@prairieplaces.org Plaza Community Museum — 1876 [Saved!] (Formerly "Like-A-Fishook" Indian Mission Chapel and also Plaza Congregational Church) Have you ever heard the expression, "If walls could talk?" Well, the Plaza Community Museum has an incredible story to tell. According to Rev. Charles Hall in "One Hundred Years on Fort Berthold", a steamboat that came up the Missouri River delivered the lumber used to build the Indian mission chapel. That steamboat carried supplies into the Dakota Territory for Gen. George Armstrong Custer, then stationed at Fort Abraham Lincoln south of Bismarck/Mandan. The mission chapel was the beginning of Congregational mission work at "Like-a-Fishook" Indian village. The Indian village, eventually known as old Fort Berthold, was located some forty miles southeast of the present day community of Plaza.
In 1897, the mission work was moved about twenty miles upstream on the Missouri River to Elbowoods; where a new chapel, school and housing, were constructed. The mission chapel at old Fort Berthold was vacated. Sometime thereafter, the newly formed Congregational Church in Plaza secured the building. According to early records, the old chapel building was moved to Plaza in 1906. The Congregational Church of Plaza continued to serve the community until 1960. In 1975, the old Congregational Church building was set up as a museum for the community of Plaza. Artifacts from the early history of the area have been donated for display, and volunteers have managed the museum. The museum building, now owned by the city, is suffering from years of deferred maintenance, a leaking roof and general disrepair. In 2002, Preservation North Dakota was asked to make a site visit to provide some technical and possibly financial assistance towards a restoration effort. Since our first visit to the site, a section of the foundation has collapsed. Interior plaster and the pressed tin ceiling in the bell-tower are being destroyed due to the leak in the roof. Immediate repairs are necessary to stabilize the property, so a restoration of the building can begin. Preservation North Dakota has helped to organize a local affiliate in Plaza. Its Board of Directors will oversee the restoration project. Preservation North Dakota has also offered additional technical and fundraising assistance to the effort, and has awarded the project a $3,000.00 "Grassroots Grant" to begin the stabilization of the building. The community hopes to have the museum restored and open for its centennial celebration in July, 2006. Read more about the PND Plaza Community Museum Special Project. |
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