11 Most Endangered
Prairie Churches of North Dakota
Year Listed: 2001
Location: North Dakota
Current Status: Favorable
Threat: Deterioration, Natural Forces, Neglect
Were it not for the prairie church, the vast North Dakota landscape would stretch unbroken to the horizon. Often founded by first-generation settlers from Germany, Poland, Iceland, Russia and Scandinavia, the simple prairie church was usually the first building to go up when a town was settled - and the last to close its doors if the community died out. But now many of these buildings are threatened. Of North Dakota's 2,000 church structures, more than 400 are vacant and threatened by inadequate maintenance and demolition.
Update
The threat to North Dakota’s rural churches has received coverage in the New York Times, Washington Post and House Beautiful magazine, as well as many other local, state and regional media outlets. These stories have helped attract funding for the Prairie Churches of North Dakota Project, a partnership led by Preservation North Dakota, with support from the National Trust’s Mountains/Plains Office and the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Preservation North Dakota has worked with local community groups to save and rehabilitate more than two dozen endangered prairie churches since 2001. Thirty new local preservation organizations have formed to save historic churches as a result of this project. An international conference focusing on historic churches and other historic “prairie places” is being planned for 2008 and will bring together groups from North Dakota, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
