5 More Lost North Dakota Places

The end always comes. As we’ve documented here, here, and here, our historic places are frequently losing the battle with time and the elements. The places shown here, two churches, a school, an Air Force installation, and a Nordic ski jump, were all photographed in the last decade or so, and now — in the blink of an eye really — they are gone. This is why we shoot ’em… because too many of them share this fate. Here are five more lost North Dakota places.

Continue reading “5 More Lost North Dakota Places”

8 More Lost North Dakota Places

Unfortunately, we have to do a post like this from time to time. As the years pass, many of the places we’ve photographed also pass… into history. Whether it be the wrecking ball, weathering, or disaster, many of the places we’ve photographed since 2003 are now gone. We documented some of the losses in 10 Lost North Dakota Places and 10 More Lost North Dakota Places, now, unfortunately, here are 8 More Lost North Dakota Places.

Continue reading “8 More Lost North Dakota Places”

We first became aware of Brantford some years ago when our friend Mark Johnson sent photos of Brantford in winter. In the summer of 2013, we visited Brantford for ourselves and found a very quiet, near-ghost town with an impressive but crumbling public school, among other things.  These photos were taken in 2015 after we found ourselves looking for something to photograph when another location we had planned to visit didn’t work out.

Continue reading “The Last Days of Brantford”

The Last Days of Brantford

Exploring Brantford, North Dakota

We’ve known about Brantford, North Dakota — in Eddy County — for some time.  Mark Johnson contributed some winter photos a few years back, and we posted some postcards as well, but this was the first time we got a chance to actually visit.

We saw only one home which appeared to be inhabited (it had a satellite dish on the roof), but we didn’t see a single person the whole time we were there.  There were half a dozen abandoned homes, multiple foundations from buildings that no longer exist, the former Brantford Public School, and a church which was moved to a farm and then abandoned.

Brantford, North Dakota
The view out the froont door from Brantford Public School

The view out the front door from Brantford Public School. Hundreds of little feet once strolled that sidewalk, but now it’s barely holding back the prairie; grass and weeds are poking through every crack.

Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota

Right inside the front door of Brantford Public School,

Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Exploring Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota

A former pump house

Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota

This was once somebody’s driveway.

Brantford, North Dakota

There were thousands of bees buzzing around these hives, but they didn’t bother us at all.

Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota

We waded through chest-high grass in places to get to the beautiful church at the back of this farmstead.

Brantford Church

This church appears to have been moved to this farmstead, for what purpose, we don’t know. The entire place is now vacant with only the bee colony on site.

Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota
Brantford, North Dakota

Photos by Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp

Brantford, ND

Brantford was established in 1910, two years before the Great Northern railroad arrived. Brantford reportedly had 200 residents in 1920, but slowly lost population over the years until the post office was finally closed in 1973.

postcard

postcard2

The following photos of Brantford today were contributed by Mark Johnson. His comments on the church shown below: “Church located immediately next to farm, note the steeple has been removed and is setting right in front of it. The location of this church is suspicious, especially looking at the aerial, it looks like it was moved to this farmsite.”

He goes on to say, “Definitely worth a return trip during non-snowy months to confirm what the summer residency is versus winter, and to get closer shots of these buildings.”

//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js //