Marmarth

Overview

The Milwaukee Road's town on the Little Missouri

The Milwaukee Road founded Marmarth in the fall of 1907 where its Pacific Extension crossed the Little Missouri River, seven miles from the Montana line. The name joins the first letters of Margaret Martha Finch, granddaughter of the railroad's president. A year later the town moved to the west bank over the price of land, and by 1911 it was the biggest town on the Milwaukee line in North Dakota.

Wet years and cheap land brought homesteaders. Marmarth built a theater, an auditorium, a depot and a newspaper, and in 1920 the census counted 1,318 people. It had a hospital, two banks and two hotels. Then the dry years came back in the 1920s, the homesteads failed and the town shrank in every census after: 721 in 1930, 247 in 1970, 101 in 2020.

Marmarth never emptied. People still live there, and the Pastime Club & Steakhouse was feeding travelers when Prairie Public stopped in 2023. Many of the old brick blocks stood boarded up in 2007, and the 1914 Mystic Theatre on Main Street, said to be the oldest movie theater in North Dakota, is visited by calling ahead. The badlands around town are known for fossils, among them the mummified duckbill dinosaur "Dakota," found in 1999.

Then and now

Marmarth from the air, 1957 and 2023

The census counted 469 people in Marmarth in 1950. On July 26, 1957, a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey plane photographed the town with a Milwaukee Road yard of many tracks, lined with freight cars, and a roundhouse beside it, and built-up blocks between the railroad and the Little Missouri. The second photograph comes from the federal farm survey of June 28, 2023.

The street grid, the river and the rail and road bridges over it are where they were, and the town is still lived in, with 101 people at the 2020 census. The yard tracks and the roundhouse are gone, leaving the main line and a siding, and trees have grown up across the blocks.

Roundhouse site: grass and treesYard tracks goneThe same blocks, more treesLittle Missouri River2023

Roundhouse and turntableMilwaukee Road yardTown blocksLittle Missouri River1957

Roundhouse and turntableMilwaukee Road yardTown blocksLittle Missouri River1957

Roundhouse site: grass and treesYard tracks goneThe same blocks, more treesLittle Missouri River2023

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 24 points on street and road junctions, the railroad, field edges and badland features, to within about 1 m. Labels: the railroad yard and the river from the 1953 and 1980 USGS sheets, the rest from what the photographs show.

Timeline

Railroad, homesteaders, drought

1. 1864Near Deep Creek, about twelve miles east, Hunkpapa Lakota led by Sitting Bull attack Captain James Fisk's party of gold seekers; Sitting Bull is wounded.
2. Fall 1907The Milwaukee Road founds Marmarth on its Pacific Extension, naming it for Margaret Martha Finch, granddaughter of the railroad's president. In 1908 the town moves to the west bank of the Little Missouri over land prices.
3. 1910Census: 790.
4. 1911Marmarth is the largest town on the Milwaukee line in North Dakota.
5. 1914The Mystic Theatre opens.
6. 1920Census: 1,318, the peak. In its boom years the town has a hospital, two banks, two hotels, a newspaper, a dance hall, saloons and a movie house.
7. 1920sDrought returns after the wet homesteading years, and the town declines.
8. 1930-1970Census: 721 in 1930, 469 in 1950, 247 in 1970.
9. 1977The Mystic Theatre goes on the National Register of Historic Places (September 13).
10. 1999Tyler Lyson finds "Dakota," a duckbill dinosaur with fossilized soft tissue, near town.
11. 2020Census: 101.
12. 2025The state awards the Marmarth theater $233,157.47 from its Historic Theater Improvement Grant (November 25).

What's here

What you'll see

The Mystic Theatre on Main Street, a stuccoed frame building with 187 seats, opened on April 22, 1914, built by the ballplayer Guy Johnson for motion pictures. It is on the National Register, and Bowman County's tourism page says to call ahead to visit. The Barber Auditorium still carries its name across its yellow brick front, boarded up in June 2007. Photos from 2007 show a long two-story brick block with broken upper windows, the Cactus Club building with plywood over its windows, and wide gravel side streets with a few houses among the trees.

Van Horn's Western & Antique Auto Museum on US 12 shows about 50 restored vehicles and license plates back to 1916, with tours by appointment, per the county tourism page. The empty buildings are private property; look from the street. The 1953 Dickinson sheet below shows the town on the river bend with US 12 and the Milwaukee Road running through it, and Mazda and Ives marked on the line to the east. The 1980 Marmarth sheet shows the street grid between the railroad yard and the Little Missouri, with the post office, a water tank, a rodeo ground west of town and the Riverside Cemetery across the river.

• Mystic Theatre (1914, National Register 1977)
• Barber Auditorium
• Boarded two-story brick commercial blocks
• The old Cactus Club
• Van Horn's Western & Antique Auto Museum (by appointment)
• Pastime Club & Steakhouse

Photo walk

Marmarth in 2007 and 2015

Ghosts of North Dakota photographed Marmarth in May 2007 and came back in July 2015. In 2007 they found a lived-in town of about 130 people, with a gas station, a bar and steakhouse and a railroad bunkhouse, among empty storefronts and old filling stations. The photos below follow the same buildings from one visit to the next.

The most prominent empty building in 2007 was the First National Bank and Barber Auditorium, dated 1918 on its stone panels. Red velvet theater seats lay in heaps in its basement.

By July 2015 every window and storefront of the building had been boarded up.

The Mystic Theatre's paint was worn in 2007. In 2015 the visitors found it nicely renovated.

Several storefronts stood empty in 2007, some used only for storage. This rock-faced block with a green wooden front was still standing in 2015, with plywood propped against its lower window.

A former service station on Main Street, with stone pillars at its front, stood empty in 2007. By 2015 a storm had left it near collapse, with the roof sagging and water on the floor.

The Milwaukee Road depot had been cut in two and moved from its original site by 2007: one part rested on blocks on a lawn, the other stood beside the road. In 2015 the MARMARTH name board was still on the weathered siding.

The old railroad bunkhouse was renting rooms in 2007. By 2015 it had a fresh coat of paint.

The Pastime Bar served cold drinks in 2007, with a steakhouse at the back. In 2015 it was the Pastime Club & Steakhouse, and Prairie Public's radio host ate there in 2023.

In 2015 the town, 136 people at the 2010 census, seemed livelier to the visitors than in 2007, with oil-field and tourist traffic passing through. Geezer's sold books, art and rocks from a stone-front shop.

Historic maps

Marmarth on USGS maps, 1953–1997

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.

19531:250,00019801:24,00019971:24,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Bowman is the nearest town with services. US 12 runs west from it across the plains to Marmarth. From Bismarck, take I-94 west and US 85 south to Bowman.

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

Directions go to Marmarth town streets (routed endpoint), where the drive ends, not to the townsite.

Photos

Marmarth in photos

A two-story brick block with broken and boarded windows, June 2007The Mystic Theatre, August 2007The Barber Auditorium, June 2007The boarded Cactus Club building, June 2007The Cactus Club, 1987The Harrison House, August 1915Main Street, September 2015Brick blocks on US 12, photographed by January 2007A small stucco house beside a brick block, June 2007A gravel side street, June 2007Looking down a wide gravel street, June 2007Main Street at 2nd Street SW, June 2007The Marmarth town sign, June 2007The Mystic Theatre, renovated, July 2015The Barber Auditorium with every window and storefront boarded, July 2015The old railroad depot, moved to a grassy lot in town, July 2015The Pastime Club & Steakhouse sign, July 2015The bank and auditorium building and a boarded block across the street, May 2007The staircase inside the bank and auditorium building, May 2007An old stove in a former storefront, May 2007A boarded two-story block on Main Street, the Mystic Theatre beyond, May 2007Marmarth's first two jail cells, set out on a lawn, May 2007Marmarth Public School, May 2007A boarded-up frame school building, May 2007A painted sign for cigarettes, candy and ice cream on a brick wall, May 2007The Cactus Club building, its upper windows boarded, July 2015Old Highway 16, the Old Marmarth Road, in the Badlands north of town, July 2015

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 Marmarth?

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.

Railroad and road

More railroad, road and fort ghost towns

The nearest in North Dakota.

Guide

Buford

48.00, -103.99

Williams County, North Dakota

A railroad hamlet on the Great Northern line near the old army post of Fort Buford. It had a post office from 1897 to 1975 and 20 people in 1940.…

Few remainsRailroad and road

Guide

Sanish

47.99, -102.54

Mountrail County, North Dakota

A Soo Line town of 1915 on the east bank of the Missouri, dissolved in 1953 as Garrison Dam's reservoir began to fill. Its foundations lie under…

Under Sanish BayRailroad and road

All 120 railroad, road and fort ghost towns →

Nearby

Other sites near Marmarth

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

• Amidon31.9 mi NE · Slope
• Gascoyne42.6 mi E · Bowman
• Sully Springs47.1 mi NE · Billings
• Bucyrus57.0 mi E · Adams
• Ukraina65.3 mi NE · Billings
• Gorham66.0 mi NE · Billings
• Lefor70.6 mi NE · Stark
• Petrel82.9 mi E · Adams

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Marmarth, North Dakota", read October 28, 2026: the 1864 Fisk fight, the 1907 founding and 1908 move, the name, the largest town on the line in 1911, the census counts 1910-2020, the Mystic Theatre of 1914, the 1920s decline, "Dakota" in 1999, the coordinates.
2. ghosttowns.com, Marmarth, read October 28, 2026: many original buildings, current residents, the 2WD road, summer as the best time.
3. Wikipedia, "Mystic Theatre (Marmarth, North Dakota)", read October 28, 2026: the 187-seat stuccoed frame building, the September 13, 1977 listing, the April 22, 1914 opening, Guy Johnson.
4. Bowman County tourism, "One Day West from Bowman", read October 28, 2026: the Mystic Theatre and Van Horn's museum, the oldest-theater claim, call-ahead and appointment visits.
5. Prairie Public, "Dakota Diners: Pastime Club & Steakhouse," August 17, 2023: population 101, about 1,300 at the peak, the hospital, banks, hotels, newspaper, dance hall and movie house, the radio host's visit to the steakhouse.
6. North Dakota Department of Commerce, November 25, 2025: the $233,157.47 Historic Theater Improvement Grant to the Marmarth Theater, a grant for operating historic theaters built before 1930.
7. Photos from May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, "Marmarth, ND" (inhabited as of May 2007): about 130 people, the gas station, bar and steakhouse and railroad bunkhouse, the 1918 First National Bank and Barber Auditorium and its theater seats, empty storefronts, former filling stations, a boarded-up school, the depot cut in two and moved; public domain (CC0) by the authors' release of August 29, 2022.
8. Photos from July 2015: Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp, Ghosts of North Dakota, "Return to Marmarth", August 1, 2015 (the visit was in July 2015, per their August 3, 2015 post "The Badlands of Old Marmarth Road"); the bank and auditorium boarded up, the theater renovated, the storm-damaged service station, the repainted bunkhouse, 136 people in 2010 and the livelier traffic; the Old Highway 16 photo from "The Badlands of Old Marmarth Road"; public domain (CC0) by the authors' release of August 29, 2022.
9. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• A two-story brick block with broken and boarded windows, June 2007: In memoriam afiler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• The Mystic Theatre, August 2007: afiler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• The Barber Auditorium, June 2007: In memoriam afiler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• The boarded Cactus Club building, June 2007: In memoriam afiler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• The Cactus Club, 1987: The Library of Congress from Washington, DC, United States, Wikimedia Commons, No known copyright restrictions
• The Harrison House, August 1915: Michael Zeis, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Main Street, September 2015: Vangom23, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Brick blocks on US 12, photographed by January 2007: Coemgenus, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• A small stucco house beside a brick block, June 2007: In memoriam afiler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• A gravel side street, June 2007: In memoriam afiler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• Looking down a wide gravel street, June 2007: In memoriam afiler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• Main Street at 2nd Street SW, June 2007: In memoriam afiler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• The Marmarth town sign, June 2007: In memoriam afiler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• The Mystic Theatre, renovated, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The Barber Auditorium with every window and storefront boarded, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The old railroad depot, moved to a grassy lot in town, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The Pastime Club & Steakhouse sign, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The bank and auditorium building and a boarded block across the street, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The staircase inside the bank and auditorium building, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• An old stove in a former storefront, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A boarded two-story block on Main Street, the Mystic Theatre beyond, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Marmarth's first two jail cells, set out on a lawn, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Marmarth Public School, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A boarded-up frame school building, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A painted sign for cigarettes, candy and ice cream on a brick wall, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The Cactus Club building, its upper windows boarded, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Old Highway 16, the Old Marmarth Road, in the Badlands north of town, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The First National Bank and Barber Auditorium building, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The Barber Auditorium name panel, dated 1918, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The First National Bank doorway, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Theater seats piled in the basement, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The long side of the same building, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The Mystic Theatre, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The green-fronted block, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The same storefront, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The former service station, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The same station at the Main Street sign, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Inside the service station after the storm, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• One part of the depot, on blocks, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The other part of the depot beside the road, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The depot's name board, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The railroad bunkhouse, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The bunkhouse, repainted, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The Pastime Bar, May 2007: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The Pastime Club & Steakhouse and the small building beside it, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Geezer's, open, July 2015: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A wide street with a flagpole in the middle, July 2015: 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
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Dickinson 1953, 1:250,000; Marmarth 1980, 1:24,000; Marmarth 1997, 1:24,000.