We visited Hamberg, North Dakota, a near ghost town in Wells County, about 18 miles east of Harvey, for the first time in 2008, to photograph an old school which has since burned in an accidental fire.
Thanks to Heidi Ermer, we can now take a brief look at Hamberg as it appeared in yesteryear when there were residents numbering in the hundreds, as versus the approximate 20 residents who live there today. Heidi sent us the following postcards. The exact year of these photos is unknown.
Hamberg lost their school to a grassfire on April Fool’s Day, 2012. In its absence, we took a new look at our archive of photos from 2008 and found these previously unseen things. Enjoy.
Continue reading “More Abandoned Hamberg”
Hamberg is a central North Dakota near-ghost town, in Wells County, about eighteen miles east of Harvey. It was founded as a Great Northern Railroad town (Heidi Ermer contributed a photo of the old depot) and was originally called Viking. According to North Dakota Place Names by Douglas Wick, the name was changed to Hamburg by German residents, but later the Hamberg spelling was adopted as a compromise with the Scandinavian settlers in the area.
US Census Data for Hamberg
Total Population by Place
1940 – 154
1950 – 124
1960 – 64
1970 – 51
1980 – 41
2000 – 28
2010 — 21
During our visit in 2008, this school looked like it had very few years left in it. Unfortunately, it burned to the ground on April 1st, 2012, during one of the driest springs on record. A Facebook fan reports a controlled burn got out of control due to the wind and the dry conditions.
The traffic passes, but rarely stops.
Hamberg’s Post Office.
A quiet Saturday morning in Hamberg.
See also: More Views of Hamberg
See also: Hamberg Flashback
See also: More Abandoned Hamberg
Photos by Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp, © 2016 Sonic Tremor Media
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Ghosts of North Dakota 