Prairie Churches Book Launch - Slideshow

Thanks to all who came out for the launch party! What a fun, fun evening!

Ekstrom Scholarship Applications Due April 15, 2012

A scholarship is available for college students majoring in art, architecture, history or related disciplines to attend the 19^th Annual North Dakota Historic Preservation Conference May 18,19, & 20,2012 in Wishek, ND.  The scholarship covers conference registration fees and provides a stipend for the event.

The annual North Dakota Historic Preservation Conference is sponsored by Preservation North Dakota, a nonprofit organization providing historic preservation leadership and educational opportunities.  The 2012 conference theme is Prairie Places Festival. 

These scholarships are made possible through the Rurik Ekstrom Scholarship Fund, which was established in 2005. The scholarship was created by family and friends in honor of Rurik Ekstrom, board  member and past president of Preservation North Dakota. Rurik received his bachelor of Architecture from the University of Virginia and his Master of Fine Art from Yale University. He served as professor and chairman of the Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at North Dakota State University located in Fargo, ND.

Students may apply for the Rurik Ekstrom Historic Preservation Scholarship by completing the online application – www.prairieplaces.org

The deadline for applications is April 15, 2012.

PND Seeks Nominations for Awards Programs

Preservation North Dakota seeks nominations for the annual 3 Most Endangered Places List as well as the Success Story  and Honor Awards.  Nominations are due April 15, 2012 forms are available online.

The 3 Most Endangered Places List, Success Story and Honor Awards will be announced during PND’s 19^th Annual North Dakota Historic Preservation Conference May 18-20, 2012 in Wishek, ND.

3 Most Endangered Places

Created in 2000, the 3 Most Endangered Places list includes sites which have historical, architectural or cultural significance and are in danger of demolition, deterioration, or substantial alteration due to neglect or vandalism. Being named to the list is often a first step or a much needed boost towards preserving these historic places. The list often draws public attention to historic preservation issues, sparks debate about cultural and architectural heritage preservation, and sometimes even attracts a new owner or developer to a historic site in desperate need of a new and creative solution.

Success Story Award

Each year PND also invites nominations for the annual Success Story Award.  This award is given to a site having a historical, architectural, or cultural significance, which has been restored. The work must have been completed within the last five years. The award also draws attention to historic preservation issues and demonstrates how historic places can be restored and adaptively reused for both historical and practical purposes.

Honor Awards

The Preservation North Dakota Honor Awards recognize outstanding achievements and excellence in historic preservation across the state of North Dakota in four categories; Preservation Excellence Award; Legacy Award; Volunteer of the Year Award; and the Artisan Award. Recipients are selected by the award committee from a pool of nominations submitted by peers, building owners, and the public at large.

Historic Hillsboro Landmark Achieves Preservation Goal

Union Block, 2010 Photo Courtesy John TosoA commercial building at the heart of downtown Hillsboro, ND has a new lease on life after completion of a multi-year rehabilitation.  The two story brick building, constructed in 1891 as part of Union Block, had fallen into disrepair in recent years. In 2006, the Hillsboro community spoke out strongly for preservation of this downtown landmark. To this end, a group of volunteers formed Hillsboro Community Partnership (HCP), a nonprofit affiliate of Preservation North Dakota. With tremendous community support, HCP directed a series of repair and stabilization phases.

Steps required in the process included rebuilding the back wall, new roofing, interior joist replacement for the floor, ceiling and roof as well as exterior brick tuck pointing of the elegant storefront architecture. In 2011, energy efficient, historically replicated second story windows were installed to complete the final phase of the Union Block Project for this building.

Known locally as “the former Johnson Store”, for the department store located there from the 1940s through the 1980s, this L-shaped commerce center now has new owners. Amanda and Joe Johnson of Hillsboro will operate Our Town Bakery from this location when their renovations are completed.

Hillsboro Community Partnership will be hosting a walk-through open house at the 3 North Main St. property on Saturday afternoon, February 11, from 2-4 pm. Everyone interested in seeing what’s been accomplished by this community effort is welcome. Free refreshments will include Our Town Bakery goods and will be served at 5 North Main St. where HCP’s rehab work continues.

Announcement: PND releases new book about Prairie Churches

Preservation North Dakota announces the publication of Prairie Churches, a new book documenting ten years of church preservation in North Dakota. The old churches on the plains and prairies create a cultural landscape like no other; their steeples rise above the horizon as testaments to faith and community. In 2001 the prairie churches of North Dakota captured the heart of the nation, marking the shift from Most Endangered to the salvation of Save America's Treasures. Preservation North Dakota and its partners invested in the people and places and prairie churches that make North Dakota unique. Prairie Churches is the celebration of all that has been accomplished in the first decade of the new millennium. Written by Lauren Hardmeyer Donovan, the book consists of twenty-six essays recording successful volunteer efforts to save prairie churches with funding from the Grassroots Grant Program at Preservation North Dakota. The book also features a foreword and epilogue by Thomas D. Isern and photographs by John Toso.

 Preservation North Dakota is taking advance orders on its website or by phone at (701) 356-3001; advance orders will be fulfilled in early January 2012. Prairie Churches will also be available on Amazon.com and at local independent booksellers in North Dakota.

Praise for Prairie Churches:

“Prairie Churches… renews our admiration for the faith of our ancestors and reinforces the connection between faith and farming.” — Al Gustin, broadcast journalist and rancher

“Dramatic strokes upon the prairie landscape, the churches of the first settlers continue paying tribute to their founders’ heritage, their faith, their God. Although many of these country edifices have disappeared, the survivors still honor the convictions of the pioneers.

This volume singles out and salutes those houses of worship—powerful monuments to the individual homesteaders and immigrants who determined that a spiritual life was an elementary part of their precarious existence. The enduring survival of these structures is a reminder of the central role that religious belief has played in both the private and the community life of the American countryside.” —Kevin Carvell, noted critic, collector, and connoisseur of North Dakota books