We got these photos of Nekoma, a town of about fifty in Cavalier County, in August of 2011. We stopped in to get photos of the nearby Stanley Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, and shot a bunch of stuff in town as well. These are some photos from our archive, never before posted. Enjoy.
Nekoma Coliseum
Photos by Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp, copyright Sonic Tremor Media LLC
Ghosts of North Dakota 
People must live there as I see flower boxes? And the coliseum looks very nice and kept up.
Oh how I love this site.
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It says in the main Nekoma article (http://www.ghostsofnorthdakota.com/2011/08/13/nekoma-nd-2/) that the population as of the 2010 census was 50.
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Always enjoy seeing your new photos….even if they are a few years old. They are still new to me and everyone else that visits this wonderful site. Remember when the red, white & blue STANDARD sign was a “standard” in so many little towns? I’m gonna bet that the broken sign above the door of your last photo was a HAMM’S BEER sign….also nearly a “standard” in so many small rural communities. Oh, what wonderful memories that you bring to many of us. Thank You so much!
Lynn Mickelson.
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The other article had a picture of the other side and on that side, the Hamm’s slogan is plainly visible, so you are right. Almost as common in my opinion back in the ’70s or so were signs for Grain Belt beer.
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I won’t go back to Nekoma again because its a ghost town since I was born w/no activities,shows or enterainment to go & see
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& when I was there Al & Elaine sundberg & the rest of the family treated me as I wasn’t there every time I was there
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Thanks Melanie! I am still getting the hang of the site and never thought to go to the main article!!
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You’re welcome : ) (I had noticed in the past that a lot of times in the main article, they mention whatever the approximate current population, or lack thereof, is.)
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I lived in this town for 13 years. Some of the residents live more in the country, so that is why it looks like a “ghost town.” One of the main sources for keeping the town alive is the Pain Reliever Bar located a block down from where these photos were taken. Also, these photos only capture one block of the town.
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Yes, as this post states “a town of about fifty in Cavalier County.” Obviously we’re not gonna go take pictures of the homes where people live and put them on our website. No need to take offense.
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What memories going up in the 50’s going there.
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Drank Beer in those taverns back when stationed at the Stanley MiCkelson site for 1 year in 70s.. Site was operational for 1 day.
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Nekoma was boring place to go it was a ghost town & nothing to do at all thats what I remember nekoma was like.
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the town there wasn’t no one around & nothing to keep you occupy doing in town to only do is to sleep only thing there was is a bar the rest of the building was abandon empty buildings boring..
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and obviously, Shelly, they didn’t have a school because you seem to be a bit illiterate as evidenced by the several comments you left and your “broken” English!
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Nekoma was “bustling” during the ABM days! I worked in Military Personnel at the base, and most days we went to the Nekoma Bar, as it was called then, for lunch. Great pizza, cold brew..and fine folks (grew up in Langdon, so knew most Nekoma residents!
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I always look forward to the towns, I lived on a farm not too far from Nekoma. Thanks for the pictures.
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Might be a ghost town but the Pain Reliever is no ghost bar, most nights it has a full parking lot and on wednesdays they have the best fried chicken around… great steaks and prime rib too.
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Just found this site. I used to live in WA State and I was at a flea market in Packwood WA about 10 ish years ago. I bought this amazing tin structure that was for sale by a vendor. She gave me a zip lock bag with 2 photos after I paid for it. Going through some old paper work today I ran into that same old plastic bag and decided to look up “Nekoma Bar” and found this site. IN the bag was a couple of photos and a note. One photo of her husband (I think?) and a ladder dismantling the two tin end architectural pieces off of the Nekoma Bar. The back of the photo says “Ken starting to tear off tin off the Nekoma Bar, July 05”. And another paper says – “Tin From 1905 bar, Nekoma N. Dakota”. I can see just where they fit on each end of the front of that bar from your photos on this post. Anyway- I used this tin structure as art work in my old yard in WA State before hauling it along with me where it now sits on my patio next to my home in the Appalachian Mountains of Western NC. I do not have a scanner to upload these photos but perhaps I can take a photo of them and send them to you to put on this site?
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