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Armstrong*.
This was a rural post office established February 13, 1886 with Cymontho J. Walker PM. The name Walker was rejected by the Post Office. It was named for Moses K. Armstrong, who came to Dakota in 1859 and was influential in securing its territorial status in 1861. he was active in politics for twenty years, and served as the Congressional delegate 1871-1875. Armstrong is an Old English name meaning as it implies, Strong of Arm. Armstrong was located in Campbell township, two miles north west of Kintyre with a population of 24 in 1890. in 1898 the post office moved four miles WSW to the home of the new PM John Anderson, it closed May 15, 1909.
Contributed by Cynthia Maier.
Dakem*.
A rural Post Office established April 1890 with Sarah V. Braddock PM. She was the wife of Edward Braddock. The name comes from combining Dakota with Emmons. Dakem was first located fourteen miles ESE of Linton. In 1903 it moved three miles NE to the home of the new PM T.E. Thorn. It later moved back to the site near the original location and closed November 1909.
Contributed by Cynthia Maier.
Dale*. This was a rural community in NW 1/4 Sec. 7-129-77, eight miles west of Westfield, and five miles north of the SD border. The post office was established June 13, 1891 with Joseph Clark (1851 - 1930), a native of England, as pm, and named to note its location in a valley. The post office moved several times within this township, closing November 30, 1923 with mail to Pollock, SD. Over the years, DALE included a church, store, school, Grange Hall, and a stage depot. The original post office building was a log house with a dirt roof.
Contributed by Mike Peterson and the Hazelton Historical Society.
Post Office and Methodist Church
Danbury*.
Nothing remains of the settlement of Danbury which was located northwest of Linton near Williamsport. However a pile of rocks mark the Danbury cemetery.
The community included a Post Office and the Danbury School which was founded in 1886 with Miss Bertha Packer as the first teacher. According to newspaper records, the school had an average daily attendance of “15 scholars”. The teacher listed in 1887 was Anna E. Geil, daught of John F. and Sarah Geil.
The Post Office was established April 13, 1887 and closed on July 5, 1889. the township was originally called Danbury, but the name was changed to Liberty. The township is now Prairie view.
A farm post office with Rachel Procunier PM. It was named for the PM's husband Dan Procunier. Some say it was named for Danbury, Iowa, which was named for Danbury, Essex, England. A population of 25 was reported in 1890 Abraham Lincoln Geil, his father John F. Geil, and Lot S. Koker served as PM at various sites before the post office was closed in 1894 with the mail going to Williamsport.
Danbury Township, the school and the Post Office were named after Dan Chapman and the fact that he was buried near what later became the village site.
Contributed by Mike Peterson.
Emmonsburg. The following is quoted from 1998 Douglas Eddleman's Article: Fifty Years Ago Today In
Riverside County:The Hibernating Poorwill:
"By October 16, 1804, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and the "Corps Of Discovery" had reached a location on the Missouri River near the present community of Emmonsburg, North Dakota. On this particular day, as he often did, Lewis hiked a path parallel to the northern bank of the river. He glanced down to see in the trail, at his feet, a bird......" The article continues with comments on birds discovered in the area; in particular the subject of his article.
Contributed by Mike Peterson.
Gayton*.
A rural community about twenty miles NW of Linton and just east of the Missouri River port of Gayton Landing. Both were named for James Bennett Gayton (1833-1909), who came here from Ohio in 1868, and was the first white settler in the country. He was a county commissioner and a delegate to the ND Constitutional Convention in 1889. The PO was established August 2, 19881 with John L Kennedy PM.
A stage line from Bismarck to Winona was begun by a rancher, Peter Shier (1856-1925). His Dinner Ranch was the midway stopping point on the line. A population of 15 was reported in 1890, the site included a school, post office, stage station, and ferry service to Cannon Ball. The post office was closed November 15, 1915. The site is now under Lake Oahe.
Contributed by Cynthia Maier.
Gayton Baseball Team
Glencoe.
See The Kintyre Write-Up Below
Hague.
Historic Photographs of Hague
Hazelton (Emmons). This Northern Pacific Railroad town site was founded in 1902 in NE ¼ section 30-138-76 Hazelton Township and named by John Ithamer Roop (1865-1958) for his daughter (Hazel). The Post Office was established July 6, 1903 with Mrs. Elaine Longpre Perrad (1854-1918) PM. The elevation is 2000. The zip code is 58544 and a peak population of 500 was reached in 1940. The village was incorporated in 1916 and it became a city in 1950. Among its more prominent pioneers were William Lewis Yater (1848-1952) and Abraham Lincoln Gial (1865-1940), both of whom were active in county affairs. Hazelton bills itself as the “Flax capital of the Nation”.
Contributed by Cynthia Maier.
Picture From Penny Postcards
Kintyre. The following is quoted, in part, from a 1998 (Issue 17) article from The Kintyre Mag:
"...Recently we were given a book published on the 75th anniversary of the founding of a post office in a rural area of North Dakota. A small town which is the centre of a prosperous agricultural district grew up round this post office, and is called from the name given to the post office, "Kintyre." The origin of its name is interesting in especial to those of us who live in the original Kintyre, and the souvenir book gives the reason for this name, although most of the original settlers came in the early eighteenth century from Northern Europe. A group of Swedes, most kinsfolk, settled near Goose Lake in what is now North Dakota. They were followed by others, Finns, Germans, Norwegians, Bohemians and German-Russians. The post office was sited on a ranch on the east side of Goose Lake which had been settled by the brothers Dugald and James Campbell, and would have been automatically called "Campbell" had there not been a post office of that name in Dakota. So in honour of Dugald Campbell's birthplace, it was called "Kintyre." Hugh Campbell, brother of Dugald, went to America in 1876/77, and after family reverses during and subsequent to 1878, Hugh persuaded his father, Alexander, his step-mother and other members of the family to come to America. The brothers Dugald and James came in 1881, and the rest of the family followed in 1883 to a settlement in Dakota Territory, called Glencoe, through which the Missouri River runs, and eventually to the ranch above mentioned...."
Contributed by Mike Peterson.
Kuntz*.
Kuntz, a rural community seventeen miles East North East of Linton was founded in 1914 when plans were made to erect a rural Roman Catholic Church, and during the 1920's several country stores operated at this site. The church was named St. Michael's and the community is often called by this name. the more commonly used name of Kuntz honors pioneer merchants Leo and Christian Kuntz.
Contributed by Cynthia Maier.
Linton.
History Of Linton
Blue Room Memories Didn't Go Up In Smoke
Surnames: Welk, Schwab, Dosch, Schneider, Kraft, Bichler, Fischer, Brothers, Lipp, Holzer, Keller, Feist, Gabriel, Schaeffer, Mattern, Horner, Carlson, Scherr, Schumacher, Backer, Masterson, Baumgartner.
Blue Room Memories: Matt-Ray Theater
Surnames: Lipp, Bauman, Dosch, Bichler, Davis, Fischer, Baumstarck, Welk, Schreiner, Weber, Mastel, Schwab, Weisbeck, Feist, Towery, Goldade, Nieuwsma, Bosch, Stoppler, Schmaltz, Kramer
Milnor (Sargent). This town site was founded in August 1883 in section 9-132-54. Milnor township after negotiations for more land had failed at Linton, three miles to the east. The Post Office was established October 18, 1883 with Thomas V. Phelps PM, as the temporary terminers of the Northern Pacific Railroad Brandline from Fergus Falls, Minnesota. This settlement was designated as county seat in 1883 but lost the honor in 1886 to the centrally located townsite of Forman. Milnor incorporated as a village in 1884and became a city in 1914 with L. W. Intehouse, mayor. The name was chosen by the Northern Pacific Railroad for two of its employees. William Milnor, Roberts, the chief civil engineer and William E. Milnor the local telegrapher. It is the oldest existing settlement in the county and had a zip code of 58060 and a peak population of 850 was reported in 1890.
Contributed by Cynthia Maier.
Strasburg (Emmons). This Milwaukee Road Railroad Townsite was founded in 5 ½ section 26-131-76. Strasburg Township in 1902 was named Stafford for unknown reasons. The area had been settled I 1888 by Germans from Strasburg in Russia, which had been founded in 1808 by Roman Catholic settlers from Strasburg Allsauce, now a part of France. The local settlers asked that the name be changed to Strasburg and railroad officials approved the request. The Post Office was established April 29, 1903, with Egeti Keller Postmaster, who moved his Tirsbol Post Office to the new townsite. The village incorporated in 1908 and became a city in 1941. The elevation is 1805 and the zip code 58573 and it reached a peak population of 994 in1940. Lawrence Welk, the famous bandleader and television personality was born here in 1903.
Contributed by Cynthia Maier.
Tempelton (Emmons). This 13-block townsite was platted in May 1908 by the brothers Franz and Balthazar Tempel on their land in NE ¾ Sec 5-133-76, McCulley Twp. On the east side of the NPRR tracks opposite LARVIK. Larvik had previously been known as Godkin and Brofy, and the whole situation of rival townsites proved confusing even then, with the Emmons County Record reporting on August 11, 1910 that. “The name of Brofy, a small station, nine miles from Linton on the NP branch, has been changed to Tempeltonville.” This was not quite accurate, but on May 9, 1911 Tempelton and Larvik did merge as Temvik.
Contributed by Cynthia Maier.
Temvik*. This NPRR townsite in NE ¼ Sec 5-133-76, McCulley Twp., was founded in 1904 as Godkin, and its first post office was named Brofy. In 1908 the name was changed to Larvik, and a rival townsite called Tempelton was platted on the opposite side of the tracks. After three years of spirited competition, the two merged as Temvik, borrowing from both names after postal officials rejected the name Union City. The Temvik post office was named May 9, 1911 with Ezra P. Zunkel PM. The elevation is 1950, and the village once claimed a population of about 200, but the 1960 count was just 45. The post office Zip code 58574, closed March 8, 1968, with mail going to Linton.
Contributed by Cynthia Maier.
 Cynthia Maier writes, "Temvik once was a thriving town with a school, elevator, etc. The last time I was there buildings were still there, weeds were very high, no glass in the windows, and doors off the hinges. There was a family living on the north side of the town on a "farm". The last two couples that were there have been gone for about 10 years. One was a cousin to my dad and his wife. The elevator was used for a time since it was along the railroad but that was the last of anything there. The Temvik location is between Linton and Hazelton on the east side of Highway 83. It is listed as Templetonville on my map."
Contributed by Cynthia Maier.
The U. S. Post Office still has a zip code for Temvik in 2004 (58552 - same as Linton).
Read History Of Temvik Written In 1930.
Tirsbol (Emmons). This was a farm Post Office established May 3, 1898 with Egeti Keller Postmaster. It was located in NE ¼ section 23-131-76 – Strasburg Township. One mile north of Strasburg and named for Tirspol, Cheron District South Russia; the Roman Catholic diocese in the old country for many are settlers. No explanation was given for the change in the spelling. The suggested name of Elsas was rejected by Postal Officials. On April 29,1903 Mr. Keller moved his Post Office one mile south of the New Milwaukee Road Railroad townsite of Strasburg adopting the new name.
Contributed by Cynthia Maier.
Westfield. Alt. 1,885 ft. Many settlements came into being in the ensuing years (subsequent to Territorial Legislature in 1879), two of them being "Thule" and Hope." The two communities though separated by 17 miles and later by a state line, shared a common bond in that they were both of Dutch descent and of the Reformed faith.
In 1884 Henry Van Beek opened the first country store on Section 4, Township 129, Range in the center of Hope. Henry Van Beek then applied for the U.S. Post Office but was informed there was already a post office by the name of Hope, so the name Westfield was chosen. The Post Office was established on February 18, 1888, with Henry Van Been as Postmaster. The town was named for Westfield, Iowa, former home of some of the local residents. The town never incorporated. At one time Westfield had, besides the U.S. Post Office, a church, Hope Reformed Church, school, telephone central office, a blacksmith shop, and a service station. Because of their Dutch ancestry, Westfield was often called the "wooden shoe" community.
The Post Office was discontinued in 1964, and mail sent to Hague. The church, still the social center of the area, is all that remains of the business district.
Contributed by Mike Peterson. Sources include Pollock Area History Book, A History of Emmons County, edited by Ellen Woods and Euvagh Wenzel in 1976.
Williamsport*.
The townsite of Williamsport was established by Mr. Alex McKenzie not later than the year 1880 and most likely prior to that time, as Williamsport was one of the first towns established in Emmons County. Mr. McKenzie was recognized as a great political leader and one who worked hard at promoting land sales in the northern part of the county.
Williamsport was named for Mr. Daniel R. Williams, one of the county's early settlers, its first Register of Deeds, and the first warden of the State Penitentiary
Contributed by Cynthia Maier.
Winona*.
Winona, dates from the 1870's and was founded primarily to cater to the off-duty wants of soldiers stationed at Fort Yates. It was located at the mouth of Cat-tail creek. The name is a Winnebago Sioux word meaning “first-born child, if a girl”
This notorious town, known as “The Devil's colony” had an 1890 population of 150, with newspaper, hotel and at least nine saloons, complete with gambling and other attractions operating outside of the law. The Post Office closed in 1939, the town is now part of Lake Oahe.
Excerpt From "My Dakota Land"
"Life In Old Winona"
* = Ghost Town.
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