Heritage Renewal

Here's the latest on the First Lady's visit to Sims, North Dakota, this Thursday - the press release from Preservation North Dakota.

Here are some background facts about Sims, North Dakota, which will welcome First Lady Laura Bush for a visit on Thursday, October 2. (This posting draws heavily on a paper by Eric McCommon for the History Senior Seminar at NDSU, as well as other sources readily available at the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies.)

- The founding of Sims was wrapped up with construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, the original main line of which ran through the town. Local springs, ice-free even in winter, were an attractive source of water for steam engines. The Northern Pacific Coal Company, a subsidiary of the Northern Pacific Railroad, laid out the town in 1883.

- Sims had several other names before its present name was attached to the post office established in 1880 and the townsite platted in 1883. The earlier names included Carbon, Baby Mine, and Bly’s Mine. Sims was the name of the chief clerk of the Northern Pacific Railroad executive offices in New York City.

- Early industries of Sims, the ones that caused the population to swell above a thousand, included coal mining, brick making, and of course, the railroad. In addition, the town prospered as a trade center for the Norwegian settlers who took up farmland in the vicinity.

- The town at one time was situated on both the main line of the Northern Pacific Railroad and the main east-west highway across North Dakota, Highway 10. The NP moved its line and closed its Sims station in 1947, and soon after, the highway moved to parallel the new route of the railroad, leaving Sims isolated.

- The Norwegian Lutherans of Sims built their parsonage before their church. They built the parsonage, the present stucco building, in 1884. Worship services were held on the upper floor of the house, while in 1885, the first preacher, Reverend O.J. Norby, took up residence on the ground floor. Construction of the wood-frame church began in 1897, with completion and dedication taking place in 1900. The basement was added in 1915.

- The Ladies Aid was vital to the life of the congregation and performed many charitable works. Its fundraisers paid for the church pews and retired the church debt.

- The first English-speaking pastor of Sims Scandinavian Lutheran Church was Reverend L.D. Dordal, called in 1916. Unfortunately his wife, Bertha, passed away a year or so later in the parsonage, and as the Gray Lady, is said to haunt the place to this day. Perhaps this is because the good reverend remarried after an irreverently brief period of mourning.

- Although Sims is today a ghost town, its Lutheran congregation remains active. With the assistance of funding from the Save America’s Treasures program brought to the state by Preservation North Dakota, parishioners and volunteers have completed an impressive restoration of the parsonage.

Goshen Moravian Church Fall Supper

What: Goshen Moravian Scalloped Potatoes and Ham Supper
When: Saturday, October 25th from 4 to 7PM
Where: Country Church of Goshen Moravian
Casselton EXIT Offramp #331 on I-94, drive 5 miles south and 2 miles west.

Because of the visit by First Lady Laura Bush upcoming on Thursday, 2 October, there is interest abroad in the ghost town of Sims, North Dakota, especially in its historic Lutheran Church & Parsonage. On 14 July 2005 I took a suite of photographs at Sims, a selection of which I just now posted to the center's account at Webshots. See "Heritage Video" at lower left, or follow this link for a slideshow of Sims images. The photos were taken during a restoration work day on which members of Preservation North Dakota joined volunteers from Sims Lutheran Church in restoring their wonderful old parsonage.

Later this week at the Northern Great Plains History Conference, meeting in Brandon, Manitoba, the Center for Heritage Renewal will join with the Northern Plains Ethics Institute to convene a panel and focus group under the title, "The Ethics of History." For a little more background on the Ethics of History project, see the link at right. For some specs on the panel in Brandon, see this flyer.

Besides heading for Langdon this Thursday to speak to the Chamber of Commerce, I get to go back on Saturday, October 4, to take part in the Langdon Fall Festival. This event will feature all sorts of activities for kids and adults at St. Alphonsus Park and in the Cavalier County Courthouse. This includes great talks on star quilts and textile conservation, along with various less-serious things, like "Vegetable Contests." Hey, I just pulled a rutabaga that is the spitting image of Herbert Hoover, can I enter?! OK then, I'll just do what I'm scheduled to do, which is teaching kids how to play country school recess games, at 1:30 in the afternoon. Here's a flyer about the Langdon Fall Festival, courtesy of Macine Lukach, NDSU Extension in Langdon.

Just beginning work with the center is Jared Friedt, who joins us courtesy of the work-study program. Jared hails from Mott, North Dakota. He'll start out here doing some work on the fall supper directory and website. Likely you'll hear from him via this weblog before long.

I am pleased to announce that Bethany Lutheran Church in Red Lake Falls, MN, is celebrating their 60th Annual Scandinavian Smorgasbord on October 11. Please see the attached press release for further information regarding their location, fall supper menu, and ticket prices. Congratulations to Bethany Lutheran Church on 60 years!

Bethany%20Lutheran%20Church.pdf

Looking forward to this: speaking to the Langdon Chamber of Commerce Thursday night the 25th. Randy Mehlhoff, of the Langdon Research Extension Center, called about doing the date, and I said I'd drive down from Brandon, where I'll be attending a conference, to be with the chamber in Langdon that night. I'll deliver some remarks entitled, "North Dakota: A Work in Progress." Judging from what I've seen and read, they know a fair bit about progress in Langdon these days. Of course, there's a nasty pun embedded in the title to my remarks, the "work in progress" phrase making oblique reference to the rising arts scene in Langdon, with which I've had the pleasure of interacting in my extension role.