Coghlan Castle, photo by John Toso

Related Items 2003 Most Endnagered Proprty List Coghlan Castle receives PND Grassroots Grant Award Save Coghlan Castle Inc.

Becky Leonard, vice president of the non-profit organization, said the $10,000 grant will be used to stabilize the building.

“It takes more money to have to fix something that’s fallen in than it does to stabilize it before it’s fallen into the basement,” said Leonard.

Coghlan Castle, located five miles southeast of St. John on private land currently owned by Tim DeMers, is a local landmark.

According to the Preservation North Dakota Web site, the house was built of native fieldstone in 1883 in the Richardson Romanesque style by Maurice Coghlan and his sons. The romantic-looking house boasts a stone turret and tower windows.

When it was built it was ultra-modern for that era — with running water, a hot water heating plant, indoor plumbing — including a bathtub and toilet facilities — and a skylight in an upstairs bathroom. There were five large rooms on the main floor and a butler’s pantry. There was a grand staircase in the front of the house and back stairs.

No one has lived in the house since the 1950s. Kids partied in the empty house in the 1960s, leaving it in poor condition. Unless the foundation is stabilized, Leonard said it could fall apart even faster.

Eventually Save Coghlan Castle Inc. hopes to raise enough money to do some restoration on the house.

“The restoration is a long, long-term thing,” she said. “It can only go as far as the money will take you.”

Leonard said people are currently working on an application to add the house to the National Register of Historic Places. The castle will also be discussed at the meeting of Preservation North Dakota at the International Peace Garden later this spring.

Leonard said she greatly appreciates the grant from the Historical Society.

“That’s a very, very good program,” she said, adding that she’s used it to fund past projects. She said more donations will be needed toward preserving the house.

Leonard also said since Coghlan Castle is located on private property, it can be viewed only from the highway. It is also currently unstable.

A maximum of $10,000 and a minimum of $500 was available for each of the Cultural Heritage Grants, according to a press release, with a dollar-for-dollar match required. The match can be made either in cash or in-kind services. Funding for the grants was approved by the 2007 Legislature.

Other area recipients of the Cultural Heritage Grants include the Beaulah Convention and Visitors Bureau, which received $4,000 to assist with a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit tiled “Between Fences,”; the Bowdon Development Center Inc., which received $8,000 to the Bowdon Centennial Museum and Library for building rehabilitation and window replacement; Divide County Public Library of Crosby, which received $1,325 to assist with the purchase of a microfilm scanner and laser printer; Gordon B. Olson Library at Minot State University, which received $1,231 to assist with Web site development and creation of a searchable database for MSU’s American Indian artifact collection; Lake County Historical Society of Kenmare, which received $10,000 to assist with construction of a building to house an exhibit of printing equipment; Lake Region Pioneer Daughters, Inc., of Devils Lake, which received $2,500 to assist with the purchase of a new computer and software for the Lake Region Pioneer Daughters; Lillian and Coleman Taube Museum of Art, Minot, which received $3,000 to help upgrade the heating and cooling system for the museum; Manfred History and Preservation, Inc., which received $10,000 to assist with rehabilitation and exhibits for the Melby/Rogness house and garage; North Dakota Art Gallery Association, Minot, which received $5,000 to assist with a traveling exhibit; Ward County Historical Society, Minot, which received $5,000 for installation of a new heating and air conditioning system in Ward County Historical Society’s Harmon House; Wells County Fair Association, Fessenden, which received $10,000 for rehabilitation of the grandstand at the Wells County Fairgrounds, and Williston State College Foundation, Williston, which received $5,000 for preservation, cataloging, and selective digitization of the William Shemorry collection.

Projects funded during this grant cycle must be done by April 2009.

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