Merricourt

Overview

A town named from a novel

Merricourt began as a farm post office. In 1883 the Mann family, homesteading in Young Township, took in the mail, and postmaster Bertha V. Mann named the office after a name she had read in a novel. When the railroad came through in 1891, a townsite was platted about two miles away and took the name. At one time it had two banks and several stores. The population peaked at 153 in 1940.

Then it emptied. One account dates the decline to when the railroad went on to Kulm. When Emil and Elsie Geisler moved in from Minneapolis in 1978, 17 people lived there. The post office closed in 1990, and at the town's 100th anniversary in 1991 the population was two, with the Geisler home the only livable building.

Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp of Ghosts of North Dakota photographed Merricourt in 2005, 2011 and 2014. Each time, one household remained among the empty houses, the brick First State Bank, the white WPA community hall and two tall elevators beside the tracks, one of them brick. Their pictures track the bank's slow collapse.

Then and now

Merricourt from the air, 1957 and 2023

Merricourt peaked at 153 people in 1940. On July 8, 1957, a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey plane photographed it with buildings on most blocks of its small grid of streets south of the Soo Line tracks, elevators by the tracks, and County Road 2 running through as the main street. The second photograph comes from the federal farm survey of June 18, 2023.

County Road 2, the railroad, the section roads and most of the streets are where they were; the westernmost street is gone. By 1978 the town had 17 people, the post office closed in 1990, and two were left at the 1991 centennial. The blocks have gone to trees and grass, with a few buildings among them and the elevators still by the tracks.

RailroadCounty Road 2Elevators by the tracksTrees, grass and a few buildingsA field2023

Railroad: Soo LineCounty Road 2Elevators by the tracksBuildings on most blocksBuildings west of the blocks1957

Railroad: Soo LineCounty Road 2Elevators by the tracksBuildings on most blocksBuildings west of the blocks1957

RailroadCounty Road 2Elevators by the tracksTrees, grass and a few buildingsA field2023

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 junctions, County Road 2 and the railroad, to within about 0.6 m. Labels: the Soo Line from the historic USGS maps listed on this page, County Road 2 and the elevators from the guide's text and photos, the rest from what the photographs show.

Timeline

Post office, railroad, centennial of two

1. 1883A post office opens in the Mann family's homestead in Young Township. Postmaster Bertha V. Mann names it Merricourt, after a name she read in a novel.
2. 1891The railroad arrives, and a townsite is platted about two miles from the post office.
3. Jan 1931Robbers hold up the Jenner Merchandise store, and boxer Roy Michaelson is shot.
4. 1940The population peaks at 153.
5. 1978Emil and Elsie Geisler move in from Minneapolis; the town has 17 people.
6. 1990The post office closes.
7. 1991Merricourt marks its 100th anniversary with a population of two.
8. 2005Ghosts of North Dakota finds one occupied home among empty houses, the First State Bank, the WPA community hall and two tall elevators.
9. May 2011The bank's windows are smashed and its vault door gone; the community hall's steps are crumbling and its basement flooded.
10. Oct 2014One family remains. The bank's floor has sunk and its roof is failing.
11. By Jan 2021Visitors report the bank's roof and upper facade have collapsed.

What's left

Bank, hall and elevators

County Road 2 is Merricourt's main street. In October 2014 the First State Bank, later a bar, had a sunken floor and a failing roof, with only its vault intact. Visitors have since reported its roof and upper facade fallen. The WPA community hall, which the 2005 visit judged still usable, had crumbling steps and a flooded basement by 2011 but was still standing in 2014, as were the brick and concrete elevators by the tracks.

The historic maps show Merricourt on the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie (Soo Line) railroad from the 1896 sheet on, and the 1971 Merricourt sheet draws its small grid of streets with a few dozen buildings beside the tracks.

One house in town was still lived in at every visit. Leave it alone and keep to the road.

• First State Bank (roof and facade fallen by 2021)
• WPA community hall
• Brick grain elevator
• Concrete grain elevator
• Empty houses and outbuildings
• One occupied home (private)

Photo walk

Merricourt over nine years

Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp of Ghosts of North Dakota visited Merricourt on a misty day in 2005, on May 29, 2011, and in October 2014. These are their pictures, visit by visit.

2005, a misty day. One home in town was occupied. The rest were empty houses, the bank, the WPA hall and two tall elevators by tracks still in use.

May 29, 2011. Just one family was left. Someone had smashed the bank's windows and kicked in its door, and the vault door was gone. The WPA hall's steps were crumbling and its basement was flooded. The brick elevator still stood.

October 2014. One family remained. The bank, later a bar, had a sunken floor and a failing roof, and only its vault was intact. The hall and the brick elevators still stood.

By January 2021, visitors were reporting that the bank's roof and upper facade had fallen.

Historic maps

Merricourt on USGS maps, 1896–1986

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.

18961:125,00019251:125,00019531:250,00019711:24,00019861:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Ellendale, the Dickey County seat, is the closest town with services, about 37 minutes away by US 281 and county roads. From Aberdeen, South Dakota, the route follows US 281 north to the same turn.

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

Photos

Merricourt in photos

A collapsing wooden building with a green door, the same one shown from inside in May 2011, October 2014The street to the WPA hall and the elevators, October 2014

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 Merricourt?

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

Arena

47.13, -100.16

Burleigh County, North Dakota

A land company's prairie town on a Northern Pacific branch, home to 150 people in 1920 and to almost no one since the 1980s. Its white wooden church…

Ruins, near emptyRailroad and road

Guide

Hamberg

47.76, -99.52

Wells County, North Dakota

Hamberg had 187 people in 1930 and 11 in 2020. In 2008 its two-storey school, false-fronted stores and steepled church still lined quiet dirt…

Living town · 11 people (2020)Railroad and road

All 120 railroad, road and fort ghost towns →

Nearby

Other sites near Merricourt

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

• Keystone10.3 mi E · Dickey
• Alfred29.4 mi N · LaMoure
• Burnstad43.3 mi W · Logan
• Cleveland50.0 mi N · Stutsman
• Nome55.6 mi NE · Barnes
• Havana57.7 mi E · Sargent
• Lucca60.4 mi NE · Barnes
• Leal65.4 mi N · Barnes

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Merricourt": county, road, climate, best time, the decline after the railroad went on to Kulm, two banks and several stores.
2. Trista Raezer-Stursa, "Merricourt: Population Two," Dakota Datebook, Prairie Public, June 17, 2022: the 1883 post office, Bertha V. Mann and the novel, the 1891 railroad and townsite, the 1940 peak, the Geislers and the 1978 count, the 1990 closing and the 1991 centennial.
3. USGS Geographic Names Information System, Merricourt (1030205): coordinates and county.
4. Ghosts of North Dakota, "Merricourt, ND", on a 2005 visit: one occupied home, the post office house, the bank, the WPA hall, the elevators and active tracks, the 1940s peak.
5. Ghosts of North Dakota, "A Robbery in Merricourt", December 2, 2009: the January 1931 robbery and shooting.
6. Ghosts of North Dakota, "Return to Merricourt", May 31, 2011, on a May 29, 2011 visit: one family, the bank and vault, the hall's steps and basement, the brick elevator.
7. Ghosts of North Dakota, "Passing Through Merricourt", February 15, 2016, on an October 2014 visit: one family, the bank's sunken floor, roof and vault, the hall and elevators.
8. Ghosts of North Dakota, "8 More Lost North Dakota Places", January 5, 2021: visitors' reports of the bank's fallen roof and facade.
9. Photos: Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp, Ghosts of North Dakota, from the 2005, 2011 and 2016 posts above; public domain (CC0) by the authors' release of August 29, 2022.
10. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• A collapsing wooden building with a green door, the same one shown from inside in May 2011, October 2014: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The street to the WPA hall and the elevators, October 2014: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The brick elevator and the concrete elevator beside the tracks, October 2014: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Merricourt and its two elevators across a field, 2005: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The main street on a misty day, the bank and the WPA hall at right, 2005: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A street through town, a weathered building beside it, 2005: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The First State Bank with glass still in its windows, 2005: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The elevators beyond a street corner, the edge of the bank at right, 2005: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The house where, by a reader's family account, the post office was kept, 2005: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A weathered house with a teal door, 2005: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• An empty house in tall grass, 2005: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A white house behind bare trees, 2005: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The elevators beside the tracks, 2005: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• County Road 2, Merricourt's main street, looking north, May 2011: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The bank with its windows smashed, May 2011: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Inside the bank, where the vault door had been taken out, May 2011: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The WPA community hall and its crumbling steps, May 2011: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The hall's flooded basement, May 2011: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The brick elevator and the concrete elevator behind it, May 2011: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The face of the brick elevator, May 2011: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A doorway into the brick elevator, May 2011: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Inside a collapsing wooden building with a green door, May 2011: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A weathered house with the concrete elevator behind, May 2011: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• An empty house among trees beside the road, May 2011: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Two outhouses in the grass, May 2011: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The bank half hidden by autumn trees, October 2014: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The bank beside a dirt road, October 2014: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The bank's front, overgrown with brush, October 2014: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Inside the bank: the roof down and the floor sunk, October 2014: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The white hall and its front steps, October 2014: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The hall across the grass, October 2014: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• The brick elevator beyond the rails, October 2014: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• Old grain machinery inside an elevator, October 2014: Ghosts of North Dakota, source, CC0 1.0
• A ladder on a worn wooden floor inside an elevator, October 2014: 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): Edgeley 1896, 1:125,000; Edgeley 1925, 1:125,000; Jamestown 1953, 1:250,000; Merricourt 1971, 1:24,000; La Moure 1986, 1:100,000.