Manfred History and Preservation Inc.

Manfred History and Preservation Inc. Non-profit Preservation and Heritage Museum located in central North Dakota. We share the stories of

06/01/2026

MANFREDMONDAY!!

Langworthy Lumber Co.
Proprietor: unknown

Year Started: about 1907

Year Ended: about 1910

History of Business: Langworthy Lumber was a short-lived lumber company in Manfred. We have a board stamped with Langworthy Lumber Co in our museum. Items from the “Old Manfred News” indicating the existence of this company are as follows: July 5, 1907 – There have been some parties here this week looking over the town for sites for lumberyards. As a result, Manfred may have two new lumber yards in the near future, and then the farmers will get their lumber for nothing. (this entry does not mention Langworthy, but seems this may have been the case as you read the following articles. December 25, 1908 (date of issue of county paper) The August 5, 1910 newspaper reported that the two Manfred lumberyards have been made into one. The Rogers Yard took over the stock of the Langworthy Yard and the Langworthy Yard left Manfred. The auditor for the Langworthy Lumber Co spent Saturday at Manfred. October 28, 1910 – John Jenson is at Harvey this week helping the agent of the Langworthy Lumber Co during the collecting season. Also from the web, is an article of Olin L. Langworthy, president of the Langworthy Lumber Company. It states he started the Langworthy Lumber Co in 1902 and has been president since its inception. It says the company maintains country yards all over North Dakota, He is prominent in lumber circles throughout the USA and considered an authority on any issue pertaining to the business.

FAMILYFRIDAY!!!OLAF AND NINA ROBLEOlaf Roble was born to Mr. and Mrs. Torstein Roble (G**o Skogstad) at Kenyon, Minn. in...
05/29/2026

FAMILYFRIDAY!!!
OLAF AND NINA ROBLE

Olaf Roble was born to Mr. and Mrs. Torstein Roble (G**o Skogstad) at Kenyon, Minn. in 1886. He died at Harvey in 1933. He moved with his parents to homesteads near McHenry and Cooperstown in Eddy County. Then they moved to another homestead between Manfred and Harvey on the James River alongside the Soo Line Railroad.
He went to school in Manfred and skated to school on the ice on the James River during the winters. He attended Fargo College where he took up manual training, steam engineering and music. He mastered the valve trombone, cornet, violin and saxophone. At Manfred he played with the Manfred Cornet Band.
He started in business in Manfred as a coal dealer selling coal out of a box car. He went into business with Fremont Hanson in a general store, was a barber, worked in the Ford and John Deere dealership under Olaf Anderson who sent him to Harvey to run the A.B. Motive Power Co. The "A" stood for Anderson and the "B" was the previous owner and partner, O. E. Blanding. He had a big steam threshing rig, complete with cook car, which he had nine successful seasons.
Olaf Roble went to Swift Current, Sask., Canada with Lars Hanson and stayed a year and acquired a quarter of land by homestead laws of Canada. He returned to Manfred in 1916 denouncing the Queen of England and became an American citizen again.
In 1917, he married the schoolteacher that came from Velva and the Minot State Normal School, Nina Swedlund. She lived in Manfred, on the Halvorson farm they purchased west of Manfred, and also in Harvey.
She became a widow in 1933 and had five children, age 15 and below. She continued to run the 640-acre farm, acquired full ownership of the business and property of the A.B. Motive Power Co., about eight or ten rental houses and the home which was built new for her at 221 Brewster Street in 1928-29. Olaf and Nina are both buried at Sunnyside Cemetery at Harvey.

05/25/2026

MANFREDMONDAY!!!
Railroad Companies Help Draw Settlers to the USA
The railroad companies had advertised extensively in Europe to encourage people to immigrate to the USA,
and many answered that call. Among them was P. B. Anderson who immigrated to the USA in 1880, first living
in Wisconsin where he met and married Anna Johnson in 1886. P. B. and Anna moved that year to Eddy County
in North Dakota. P. B. wrote of those years, “Had a very hard struggle to make both ends meet. We had 30
miles to the nearest market. If we were lucky enough to raise a crop, the expenses of threshing and marketing
took nearly all the profit so there was nothing left. The settlement composed of half a dozen families were all
equally poor.” To add to this, the region experienced drought in the early 1890s resulting of little or no crops.
1892 – Railroad Bed Under Construction
P. B. continued, “With the coming of the Soo Line Railroad through North Dakota, land for settlers close
to the railroad became available. In the spring of 1892, T. K. Rogne, Nels Hovey and I struck out looking for a place
to start a new life. Having been hampered with long distances to market, we agreed not to go more than three
miles from the railroad survey. After looking over our field notes of the different descriptions taken down, T. K.
Rogne and I agreed to file on Section 20 and 29 (in Manfred Township), taking some of each section. This location
is halfway between Fessenden and Harvey, so we figured we could not miss getting close to a town. Going back
(home), we stopped at Sykeston and made application for filing with Webster Sanford, Clerk of Court at that time.
In July that same year, T. K. Rogne, L. O. Burkum, and I came back and brought a load of lumber with us and put
up a shanty 12 feet by 16 feet. We also put up about 25 tons of hay. After completing our haying, we went home
again. Late in the fall, I came back out here again. This time I had C. O. Roble along with me. He filed on Section
20. On his land, part of the village of Manfred is located. At this time, the railroad graders were at work
and the grade was nearly finished.
1893 – Rails Completed and Soo Line Train Begins to Operate
The next spring, I loaded my worldly possessions in a wagon drawn by three oxen with two cows following behind
and started out for what I expected to be the Promised Land. The first day I was overtaken by a snowstorm, so I
had to stay with a farmer about 10 miles east of New Rockford. The next day, I managed to get into New Rockford.
Bright and early the next morning, I left New Rockford. Every low place was filled with water, so I had quite a time
in coming through. Crossed the James River on a bridge at the John Goss place. Coming three or four miles west,
I met a farmer who informed me that it would be impossible to cross the river at the next crossing as there was no
bridge. Stopped that night out on the prairies. The next morning, I went back and re-crossed the bridge at the
Goss place and followed the south side of the river. This was Sunday and a very beautiful day with bright sunshine.
About three miles east of the claim I was overtaken by my brother-in-law, my wife, and my three husky boys
ranging in age from three to six years. They drove a horse and buggy. Coming out to the claim, we found the shanty
was plumb full of snow, but as we had a small tent we were not so bad off after all. The next day, we cleared the
snow out, moved the shack on a dry spot and before night we were domiciled in our new home. This was April 21,
1893. Two or three weeks after our arrival, T. K. Rogne and family came out and built their shanty about 30 rods
from ours. From then on, things commenced to move very fast. In the last part of May, the rails were laid,
and trains commenced to run. New settlers came in thick and fast (to file) and all land subject to homestead was gobbled up in short order.

Our comfort station is getting erected; Rafters put on this morning.This will be a great addition for the public along w...
05/22/2026

Our comfort station is getting erected; Rafters put on this morning.
This will be a great addition for the public along with 5 camper spots soon to be coming. All will be ready for next summer.

05/22/2026

FAMILYFRIDAY!!!

Johan P. and Paulina Hoffman
Husband's Full Name: Johann Phillip Hoffman
Husband's Place of Birth: Wallroth, Germany
Husband's Father's Name: Johann Peter Hoffman
Husband's Mother's Name: Katharina Elisabeth Stockhausen
Husband's Siblings' Names: Engelbert, Johann Phillip
Wife's Full Name: Paulina Bartsch
Wife's Place of Birth: Germany
Wife's Father's Name: unknown Bartsch
Wife's Mother's Name: unknown
Wife's Siblings' Names: Charles Bartsch ??

Children's Names: Frederick, Emma, John P, William, Charles, Phillip

Johann Hoffman who was born in 1870, emigrated from Germany and obtained a land patent in the Manfred area, where he married and started his family.
Johann’s wife, Paulina Bartsch Hoffman, was born in Germany in 1871 and died in Manfred 1901. She is buried in the cemetery to the south and west of Manfred, this is known as the Manfred Township Cemetery. In that cemetery also buried are Mrs. Charles (Katharina) Bartsch who died in 1908 at 56 years of age and Emily Bartsch, who died at age 14 in 1895.
Their children were born in rural Manfred, Wells, North Dakota between the years 1891 and 1899.
According to the county newspaper, Johann (Phillip) sold his threshing outfit in September 1905, had an auction sale selling all his stock, farm machinery and household goods in December of 1905. Phillip and his family left shortly before Christmas in 1905 for their future home in Bowie, Maryland where Mr. Hoffman had purchased a plantation of 500 acres, which contained the customary quota of huts and black tenants.

05/20/2026

2 events posted for Manfred Summer School Days
June 25th and July 9th. 3-5 pm both days
Kids and adults. Kids must be accompanied by adult
Call the number to register by JUNE 15th for one or both days.
Stories, discussion, hands on activity.

WHAT IS THAT WEDNESDAY!!what do you think this is??
05/20/2026

WHAT IS THAT WEDNESDAY!!
what do you think this is??

Stella
05/18/2026

Stella

05/18/2026

Its a cold wet day today. some picnic tables are being painted for our new campground which will be completed by next Spring thanks to a grant from Garrison Diversion. The tables were purchased from Harvey Park Board a couple years ago in anticipation of the campground needing them.
Our comfort station as some like to call it or AKA Bathroom is getting finished also and the building is being built by a couple of nice retired gentlemen here at Manfred so even if it is cold we have things going on!
Open Tuesday- Saturday 10-4. If no one at Museum house please call the number on the door. We may be out doing something around town!
Have a Great week
LOOK FOR EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT SOON FOR SUMMER SCHOOL DAYS!

05/18/2026

MANFREDMONDAY!!
Manfred in 1893
P. B. Anderson, one of our first settlers, said he did most of his pioneering in the southeast corner of Eddy County. He filed on land there in 1885 and lived there six or seven years, but struggled to make ends meet. It was 30 miles to nearest market. If they were lucky enough to raise a crop, the expenses of threshing and marketing took nearly all the profit.. The settlements of half a dozen families were all equally poor.

Wells County

With the coming of the Soo Line Railroad through North Dakota, opening of new lands in the northwestern part of the state land for settlers close to railroad became available.
In the spring of 1892, T. K. Rogne, Nels Hovey and P. B. Anderson struck out looking for a better place to make a new start in life. Having been hampered with long distances to market they agreed not to go more than three miles from the railroad survey. They commenced to prospect where the survey crossed the James River near Kensal. They took notes of different quarter sections as they went along. After they got out in the center of Wells County the settlers were very few and far apart.
There was not a house where Fessenden now stands. Bob Roberts was putting up a building near the fairgrounds. A mile or two to the northwest, Al Bean had a claim shanty and that is where we spent our first night in Wells County. They continued on their land hunting trip to the western border of the county.
The last settler was on the eastern bank of the Sheyenne River. West of the river, a fire had just swept the prairie so the land was black as far as we could see. The land looked like a desert. They went as far as five miles from where Harvey is now located but had to turn back as there was no feed for their horses.
The next night they were quartered in William Montgomery's granary. Montgomery and Shaw had settled there three or four years before and a post office was established there called Whitby. Mail brought from Sykeston once a week. At this time, it was known that a railroad station would be built at Fessenden, and we figured another would be put up where the Railroad crossed the Sheyenne River as there were 16 miles between those two points. There necessarily would be another halfway between.

Address

130 S Lake Avenue
Manfred, ND
58341

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

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