The Hutmacher Complex is an early Twentieth century farm constructed in the stone slab method, one of the traditional ethnic architectural forms that originated in the Black Sea region of Russia and Ukraine and was carried to North Dakota as part of the broader, ethnically distinct German-Russian folk tradition. The buildings were highly labor intensive to build and maintain, but also highly environmentally appropriate and efficiently functional through use of locally available materials. The farm’s principle residence, used from 1928 to 1963, was expanded as needed. Its rooms are aligned along a single east-west axis with a traditional, protruding entry vestibule. Badlands cedar rafters and a cottonwood ridge beam support a roof of small branches and straw sealed with clay. Exterior walls of ashlar sandstone slabs and clay mortar were originally covered with a plaster made of clay and chopped straw. Other buildings in the complex include ruins of a barn, a summer kitchen/butchering house, a poultry barn and a garage, which may also have served as a stable. The Hutmacher Complex is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Endangered by: The ravages of time and weather. The Dunn County Historical Society assisted by the State Historical Society of North Dakota and a cadre of volunteers have provided periodic maintenance and repairs using donated as well as purchased materials and equipment. The task is monumental, however, and in the absence of a program of systematic repair, maintenance and protection the site faces continued deterioration. Without a program of research and interpretation the site’s potential value is diminished.

"From dust to dust. . . ":
Vestiges of Cultural Meaning at the
Hutmacher Complex on  the North American Great Plains
Frank (and Veronica) Hutmacher Farmsite rural Dunn County (near Fayette); Manning, North Dakota

Background/Meaning:
Drawing from a variety of materials close at hand, German-speaking immigrants from the Black Sea region of Russia and Ukraine adapted traditional housing forms to suit their need for economical shelter on the North American Great Plains.  They employed shared cultural memory of familiar architectural traditions to create a remarkably durable mode of shelter in a resource-poor context. As an example of cultural memory, the Hutmacher complex in western North Dakota is comprised of earthen-roofed, stone-slab buildings and a cemetery with ethnically distinctive iron cross grave markers. Enduring remnants of immigrant culture on the northern Great Plains stimulate our awareness of ethnically distinct architectural traditions.  Many of these traditions are just now becoming well-known through scholarship at the same time they are rapidly disappearing from the contemporary landscape. Traditional building contexts like the Hutmacher site provide important vehicles for learning about architecture, about people, and about cultural values. A message borrowed from an historic cemetery marker adjacent to the Hutmacher site reminds us;

The Hutmacher Complex is the best-known example of stone-slab construction in North Dakota. For many years, it has been protected, in a sense, by its relative remoteness and by continued occupancy and use of the buildings until very recent years. Though several of the buildings in the Hutmacher Complex existed in a fragile condition at the time of HABS documentation for the Library of Congress, county and state agencies have expressed continuing commitment to protection, preservation and rehabilitation of these unique ethnic resources, described as “the best-preserved surviving example of the architecture of Germans from Russia in North Dakota.” The complex includes a house, below-grade cellar, ruins of a barn, a summer kitchen/butchering shed, a poultry barn, and a garage (which may have also sheltered livestock at one time). The sandstone-slab buildings of the Hutmacher Complex are part of an ethnically-distinct folk complex that includes language, foodways, and burial customs (such as iron-cross cemetery markers). The Germans from Russia are a major ethnic population group in western North Dakota, and their heritage has been intensively studied by cultural organizations with a nationwide and international member base.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE:

The Hutmacher Farmsite is an official project of Save America's Treasures!