The Ghost Town of Griffin, North Dakota

Griffin, North Dakota is a town that’s so poorly documented, so forgotten, and so wiped out, that its story is, without exaggeration, a step away from being lost forever. Hopefully with the help of this documentary, we can change that.

The Bowman County town was originally settled in the 1890's and was originally named Atkinson, but when the Milwaukee Road railroad came through in 1907, Atkinson was renamed Griffin. It was also a stop on the Yellowstone Trail.

In this video, we explore the remaining structures on the site, including several homes and trailers, as well as the beautiful old Atkinson Schoolhouse and a Milwaukee Road boxcar.

It was never a massive settlement, but it was full of life and stories that deserve to be remembered.

[devonhestekin]

I live in Bowman and have driven by and stopped at Griffin 100's of times and am glad someone has stopped by and taken the time to explore and learn the history of a forgotten place like Griffin.

[Suntan]

It always makes me both sad and amazed at seeing abandoned homes. Thinking about all the life that happened within its walls and now it's empty and alone

[jennieambrose]

Tom, the RRB McIntosh is 2LT Robroy/Rob Roy Bruce McIntosh, service number O-744731. It took a bit of digging, but I was able to find him thanks to one Air Force journal from July 1946 and a lot of searching military records/Ancestry. He was actually taken as a POW after baling from his plane near Nuremburg, Germany in March 1944 but escaped 14 months later. He died of cancer in September 1999 in Mississippi. Throughout all of this research I could not find a single tie to Griffin or North Dakota- I have no idea why his bag would be in that trailer of all places.

[fubarmodelyard]

History, no matter how seemingly insignificant, should not be forgotten

[Xzeihoranth]

That cassette came through so damn clear, it was almost as eerie as the town itself.

[LukasAnderson-ewqn]

Having family in that area, I love to see these stories of towns long forgotten by history. We have a family farm in neighboring adams County that's close to an old school house that had its last class in 1966, and going through it was something surreal. There are so many towns in ND with stories like Griffin, and many of them are on the verge of being gorgotten. So thank you for bringing some of it back to the spotlight.

[michaelimbesi]

This is just a wild guess, but those strange beams with the pegs might be the cross-pieces from old telegraph poles along the railroad. It’s not impossible that when they were no longer needed, somebody collected all of the wood to reuse it.

[VarneyRidge]

As of 22 years ago, the Griffin property was owned by Stan Soderstrom, who grew up there but was a minister in Ellendale. I tried to buy the windmill and tower from Stan in 2002, but he said it had too much sentimental value and that it would be hard to see either of the "Griffin towers" (there's also a windcharger tower visible in the aerial shot) gone. It makes me happy to see that it's still intact and standing, especially since it probably hasn't been serviced since the 1970s. Nicely done video and history!!!

[talesfromanoldmanpatoneal]

I love these old Ghost Town adventures. Thanks for taking us along.

[LindenTree]

Fact checks from an original area resident: 1. The Atkinson schoolhouse was moved to Griffin in the early 1980's, when Stanley Soderstrom was trying to build a ghost town at Griffin to attract tourists. 2. The site of Griffin was private property of the Soderstrom family for at least the past century. Godfrey Soderstrom (the G.W. Soderstrom in the image when talking about the post office), Ernie, Stanley, etc. During all this time, only one family at a time ever lived there; at certain times it was families other than the Soderstroms. Ernie had a small cattle ranch there, around the 1950s. At no point in the last century did multiple families live there - never six families. 3. The cellar with no building over it belonged to a dormitory-like building where railroad workers would stay. 4. Most of the buildings at the site were brought in by Stanley Soderstrom, again, to create a ghost town. There was also a lot of other random "junk" brought in by Stanley over the years, so most of what you would find there would have absolutely nothing to do with the town. In fact, Stanley's son Stanic (sp?) opened an antique store in Bowman with his wife Carrie in the mid-1980s; not sure if that was related to some of what Stanley brought in or if it was a separate endeavor. 5. The random poles were indeed previous telegraph poles but this was a pole barn that was started by Stanley Soderstrom and never finished. 6. The building south of Highway 12 was the Wilson schoolhouse that Stanley moved in from south of Bowman (I'm not sure the exact site but my dad attended dances in that schoolhouse before it was moved in). The Wilson schoolhouse was brought in sometime after the Atkinson schoolhouse was moved. The wagon was also moved in by Stanley at some point. 7. The building you call a "henhouse" was also something brought in from outside, but was too large and well-built to have ever been an actual henhouse at its unknown original location.

[cdd]

This is such a great community - every single comment I have read has contributed something interesting, thoughtful, and contemplative. Everyone is also respectful which is a reflection of the video and its creator.

[jordanpeterson]

My dad agrees with a number of the posts here about the unknown structure being recycled timber. He grew up in rural ND, though moved away 15-20 years ago. I asked him to take a look and he replied:

"Recycled high line poles and cross arms. Looks like it was started and not finished. We used a lot of old poles and cross arms when we built the one pole barn. The one at the west end of the sheep barn"

He's in his early 70s now, so would have been growing up about the time Griffin was in hard decline. I suppose his guess is as good as any.

[DCking]

There is something deeply meaningful and melancholic about these videos. We are getting a small window into a world that not even most of our grandparents remember. A world before our time. It is incredible to me how these people lived their lives and how in just a few generation because of outside forces a place can be so nearly and totally forgotten. I was partially raised by my great grandparents and their parents and it takes me back to my youth when I see these ruins and ghost towns because of the stories they told me but I am also reminded how they all passed away from dementia. It feels like America is dying of dementia.

[scottjones]

I was through that area last year on vacation and spent the night in Bowman. There was a little town we went through on US 85 just north of the RR tracks on our way there. Places like that and Griffin make me think of the lives that were lived there. Everybody has hopes and dreams. What were theirs I'd asked and in the end was it a good life..

[thelostone]

I’ve been a sub for a couple of years now and this one hits the closest to home….literally. My grandmother’s parents were German immigrants who settled on some farm land directly north of there in a now defunct community close to Grenora North Dakota. This is where my grandmother was born (well over a century ago as she has passed many years back) and she spent her early years in their farm. They eventually moved away and like many of the unnamed people in your video, landed elsewhere.
Furthermore, I lived in North Dakota for a few years as a teenage and actually enjoy some of its unique beauty. There are amazing and wonderful people who still call those small communities home. So I try to do a pilgrimage there every few years and ponder on my ancestors (and others) who worked the land in one way or another…
So this was very moving and a beautiful video. Thanks you for doing it and spending sometime in a place that most people don’t care to visit.

[hambrabai]

It's wonderful that you're documenting these nearly forgotten towns, they were filled with people that all had their own hopes, dreams, and ambitions, and to see their homes and lives fade away is a shame. I was the last resident of Nahon, SD and I've made it a goal that even a failed railroad town like my home will remain in someone's memory long after I'm gone.
On another note, if you ever pass through North Dakota again you should make a point to stop in Valley City. They have an absolutely spectacular museum in town that documents a multitude of ghost towns in the area, among everything else they have on hand. Also you could check out the Hi-Line and Karnak rail bridges, definitely worth a visit.

[EasyThereBigFella]

Terrific opening quote!! I never thought of death in that manner, when your name is spoken for the last time. Thank you for your extensive research and well executed productions. Wishing you continued growth, for your benefit and for us viewers. 👍

[haseulibae]

I love this so much, bc just you making a video about this place immediately stops the third death. We all know its name now, and it permanently has its own space in my mind. Love this!!

[nedheadwyoming]

Thankyou for this. My folks were born on farms near Tuttle and Arena ND. It was a hard life out there on the prairie, but I am forever grateful for my ancestors, and very proud of them. Germans from Russia

[CamoJunjen]

The locals were definitely enthralled by the music they were hearing. Amazing video as always :)