Alfred

Overview

A hamlet by the lake

Alfred lies a mile south of ND 46 in northwestern LaMoure County, on the shore of a small lake. Wikipedia counts it among five towns founded by Richard Sykes. It once had a school, a blacksmith shop, a bar, a repair shop, a grain elevator, a gas company and a grocery store. A 1940 directory estimated its population at 500, a figure we could not check against a census.

The post office has closed, and the town has no services. When Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp of Ghosts of North Dakota came over the Fourth of July weekend in 2012, perhaps ten people lived there and the Seventh Day Adventist church was holding services. The northeast part of town, toward the lake and the old rail line, was mostly empty buildings.

Their photographs, published in 2012 and in a second set in 2020, show what a nearly empty prairie hamlet looks like: a Farmers Union oil building and grain elevator, houses swallowed by trees, a cemetery on the edge of town, and the lake beyond.

Then and now

Alfred from the air, 1957 and 2023

On August 13, 1957, a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey plane photographed Alfred as a grid of blocks with a house on most lots, a railroad curving past on the northeast side, and the lake beyond the county road, mostly marsh that summer. The second photograph comes from the federal farm survey of June 18, 2023.

The streets are where they were, and so are two rows of round grain bins east of the old railroad grounds. The railroad is gone, and trees have grown over the blocks where houses stood; in 2012 Ghosts of North Dakota found perhaps ten people living here. The lake now comes up to the county road.

Same streets, trees over the lotsRail line goneOpen water up to the roadThe same bins2023

Town blocks, a house on most lotsRailroadLake basin, mostly marshRows of grain bins1957

Town blocks, a house on most lotsRailroadLake basin, mostly marshRows of grain bins1957

Same streets, trees over the lotsRail line goneOpen water up to the roadThe same bins2023

1957: U.S. Department of Agriculture; scan by the North Dakota Department of Water Resources, source, Public domain. 2023: U.S. Department of Agriculture NAIP, via USGS The National Map, source, Public domain. Both photographs cover the same 1.6 by 1.2 km and were lined up on 17 points on road and street junctions, the county roads and the grain bins, to within about 1.4 m. Labels: the railroad and the lake from the 1953 USGS Jud sheet and the accounts above, the rest from what the photographs show.

Timeline

What Alfred was

1. FoundingAlfred is one of five towns founded by Richard Sykes, by Wikipedia's account. It grows up beside a small lake, with a rail line on its northeast side.
2. HeydayThe town has a school, a blacksmith shop, a bar, a repair shop, a grain elevator, a gas company and a grocery store.
3. 1940A directory of the time estimates the population at 500. We found no census count to check it against.
4. Jul 2012Ghosts of North Dakota finds perhaps ten residents, services at the Seventh Day Adventist church, and the northeast side of town near the lake and old rail line mostly abandoned.

Alfred's founding date and the years of its post office and rail line are not in the sources we found.

What's here

Elevator, church and empty houses

The elevator still stands, with the Farmers Union Grain Association's name on its sign and in faded letters on its shingled side. Wikipedia describes grain bins and a boat dock on the lake to the northeast, a few houses, a licensed boarding home, a grocery store and a Protestant church; its description is undated, and in 2012 Ghosts of North Dakota found the church in use. Around them, in 2012, stood the empty Farmers Union oil building, a brick commercial building, collapsing sheds and houses gone into the trees. The cemetery lies at the edge of town behind an arched iron gate.

The 1953 Jud sheet shows Alfred's few blocks at the west end of the lake.

• Farmers Union grain elevator, silos and bins
• Empty Farmers Union oil building
• Church (in use, 2012)
• Empty houses and sheds
• Alfred Cemetery
• Lived-in homes (private)

Photo walk

Alfred, July 2012

Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp photographed Alfred over the Fourth of July weekend in 2012; the camera dates some of the frames to July 7. These are their pictures of the town's empty buildings, its elevator and its cemetery.

On the main corners stood the empty Farmers Union oil building and a brick commercial building. Street signs still marked corners where nothing was left.

The elevator rose over everything, its Farmers Union sign rusting.

Toward the lake, on the northeast side of town by the old rail line, most buildings were empty. Houses and sheds had gone into the trees.

In the house hidden in the grove, the roof timbers had fallen into the rooms.

The cemetery sits on open ground at the edge of town, behind an arched iron gate.

Historic maps

Alfred on USGS maps, 1953

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19531:24,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Jamestown is the nearest city, about 48 minutes away by US 281 south, ND 46 west and a mile of county road. From Bismarck the route follows I-94 east, ND 30 south and ND 46 east.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Alfred in photos

The lake at the edge of town, foxtail barley in the foreground, July 2012A brick-and-wood shed beside a tall spruce, old machinery in the grass, July 7, 2012A "Pride of the Farm" stock tank in tall grass, July 2012A street sign, a "chicken crossing" sign and a scrap pile on a corner, July 2012The empty Farmers Union Oil Co. building beside a quonset, July 2012

Great thanks go out to Ghosts of North Dakota, Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp, who released their photographs into the public domain so that their work on North Dakota's abandoned places can live on.

Visitor reports

Been to Alfred?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

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Nearby

Other sites near Alfred

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our North Dakota index.

• Cleveland20.7 mi N · Stutsman
• Merricourt29.4 mi SE · Dickey
• Burnstad33.7 mi SW · Logan
• Keystone36.1 mi SE · Dickey
• Leal47.4 mi NE · Barnes
• Nome56.5 mi E · Barnes
• Lucca61.1 mi E · Barnes
• T E Mvik62.0 mi W · Emmons

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Alfred": county, road, location a mile south of ND 46, climate, best time, a population of 10, the former businesses, the church and few homes.
2. Wikipedia, "Alfred, North Dakota", retrieved October 2026: coordinates, Richard Sykes, the 1940 estimate of 500 (from The Attorneys List, 1940), the closed post office, the present buildings, the lake and dock, no services.
3. Ghosts of North Dakota, "Alfred, ND", July 10, 2012: perhaps ten residents, the church service, the abandoned northeast side by the lake and old rail line.
4. Ghosts of North Dakota, "Photos from the Vault: Alfred, North Dakota", December 16, 2020: further photos of the July 2012 visit, the Fourth of July weekend date.
5. Photos: Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp, Ghosts of North Dakota, from the two posts above (July 2012; some frames dated July 7, 2012 by the camera); public domain (CC0) by the authors' release of August 29, 2022.
6. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• The lake at the edge of town, foxtail barley in the foreground, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A brick-and-wood shed beside a tall spruce, old machinery in the grass, July 7, 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A "Pride of the Farm" stock tank in tall grass, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A street sign, a "chicken crossing" sign and a scrap pile on a corner, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The empty Farmers Union Oil Co. building beside a quonset, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The Alfred elevator, its silos and steel bins, July 7, 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A gravel street into town between rows of trees, a small building in the distance, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A brick commercial building and a white house on a corner, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A street sign at Winchester and Warwick in an empty, overgrown lot, July 7, 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A wooden building collapsed onto its side among trees, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The elevator and its attached buildings under the power lines, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A rusted sign on the elevator: Farmers Union Grain Assn., Alfred, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Faded Farmers Union lettering on the elevator's shingled side, July 7, 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The elevator with its concrete silos and a steel bin beside a gravel road, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A garage, a small one-room building and a house hidden in the trees, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Inside the small one-room building: bare boards and debris, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The entry of the house hidden in the trees, its roof timbers fallen in, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The house's former living room, its ceiling caved in and beams fallen, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The former kitchen and dining room, doorways and a broken floor, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A white house overgrown by trees and brush, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• An empty white house with green-trimmed windows in the trees, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A house with a gable front, nearly swallowed by trees, July 7, 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A small wooden house hidden by trees, July 7, 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A small grey wooden house with a boarded door, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A grey shingled two-storey garage or barn in the grass, July 7, 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A red shed with a grey roof in tall grass and brush, July 7, 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The arched iron gate of the Alfred Cemetery, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The Alfred Cemetery across a field from the road, July 7, 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The cemetery from the gate, fields and trees beyond, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Brick gate posts and headstones, July 2012: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• 1957 aerial photograph: U.S. Department of Agriculture; scan by the North Dakota Department of Water Resources, source, Public domain
• 2023 aerial photograph: U.S. Department of Agriculture NAIP, via USGS The National Map, source, Public domain
• Topo map, area base map and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Jud 1953, 1:24,000.