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It’s been called by some “the little town that wouldn’t quit” and the unofficial results are in from Tuesday’s special election, Churchs Ferry will remain an incorporated city in Ramsey County.
Only seven people decided its fate.
Churchs Ferry was founded in 1886 on the very western edge of Ramsey County.
Once a thriving community, according to Vol. 1 of the 1983 Centennial Heritage Book for Ramsey County, by the end of World War I it had three hotels, three banks, medical and dental doctors, a furniture store, clothing stores for men, women and children, a garage, a millinery shop, photographer, two department stores, saloons, blacksmith shops, drug store, harness and luggage shop, coal docks, dray lines and livery stables, three grain elevators, bakery, theater hall, churches and “everything but a lawyer.”
Its decline began in the 1920s and by the time the 2010 census came along only 12 residents remained.
Endangered by the encroaching water of an expanding Devils Lake the city has lost much of its real estate to the lake as one by one homes and businesses were bought out throughout the past several years. Only a precious few homes remain within the city in 2012 and even fewer businesses.
A petition submitted to the Ramsey County Commission in 2011 asked for the dissolution of the incorporated city. That request was opposed by a number of individuals from the community and the region, however, according to the Ramsey County States Attorney Lonnie Olson, North Dakota Century Code says that if a petition is submitted by a certain percentage of the registered voters of a city, it shall go to a vote of that city’s residents.
That brings Churchs Ferry to Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012, and the special election that was to determine its fate as a city.
The polls opened at noon on Tuesday but it was a good hour and a half before anyone came to vote in one of the last remaining buildings in the city that has heat and sewer, the Masonic Lodge, located at 113 3rd Street.
Election workers from neighboring Devils Lake stayed until the polls closed although all the votes were cast - five opposed to the city’s dissolution, two in favor. The official results of the voting will be determined by the canvassing board which meets in the Ramsey County Courthouse Commission Meeting Room Friday, Jan. 13 at 9 a.m. to verify the results.
It’s been called by some “the little town that wouldn’t quit” and the unofficial results are in from Tuesday’s special election, Churchs Ferry will remain an incorporated city in Ramsey County.
Only seven people decided its fate.
Churchs Ferry was founded in 1886 on the very western edge of Ramsey County.
Once a thriving community, according to Vol. 1 of the 1983 Centennial Heritage Book for Ramsey County, by the end of World War I it had three hotels, three banks, medical and dental doctors, a furniture store, clothing stores for men, women and children, a garage, a millinery shop, photographer, two department stores, saloons, blacksmith shops, drug store, harness and luggage shop, coal docks, dray lines and livery stables, three grain elevators, bakery, theater hall, churches and “everything but a lawyer.”
Its decline began in the 1920s and by the time the 2010 census came along only 12 residents remained.
Endangered by the encroaching water of an expanding Devils Lake the city has lost much of its real estate to the lake as one by one homes and businesses were bought out throughout the past several years. Only a precious few homes remain within the city in 2012 and even fewer businesses.
A petition submitted to the Ramsey County Commission in 2011 asked for the dissolution of the incorporated city. That request was opposed by a number of individuals from the community and the region, however, according to the Ramsey County States Attorney Lonnie Olson, North Dakota Century Code says that if a petition is submitted by a certain percentage of the registered voters of a city, it shall go to a vote of that city’s residents.
That brings Churchs Ferry to Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012, and the special election that was to determine its fate as a city.
The polls opened at noon on Tuesday but it was a good hour and a half before anyone came to vote in one of the last remaining buildings in the city that has heat and sewer, the Masonic Lodge, located at 113 3rd Street.
Election workers from neighboring Devils Lake stayed until the polls closed although all the votes were cast - five opposed to the city’s dissolution, two in favor. The official results of the voting will be determined by the canvassing board which meets in the Ramsey County Courthouse Commission Meeting Room Friday, Jan. 13 at 9 a.m. to verify the results.
