Ghost Towns: Ardmore, South Dakota

While conducting some research at my job, I came across the story of Ardmore, South Dakota. Interestingly enough, there’s a residential subdivision in the city that I work for named “Ardmore”. However, that subdivision doesn’t have the sad story that this ghost town has in the sandhills of South Dakota.

THE EARLY DAYS OF ARDMORE

Ardmore started like so many other Midwestern communities, as a stop along a railway. Originally conceived as a stop about mid-way through the New Burlington Railroad line, it would be a viable location for adding more water for the steam engines that rumbled down that rail line.

However, the location for the settlement turned out to be less than ideal. It sat just one mile north of the Nebraska/South Dakota border. Interestingly, the townsite was almost due south of another ghost town, Mystic, South Dakota. But the region it sat within was quite different than the Black Hills Forest that Mystic was nestled in. Ardmore was born in the sandhills of northwestern Nebraska and southwestern South Dakota, a dry and unforgiving territory.

The nearby Hat Creek potentially had enough water to sustain a community erected in the dry sandhills. But the water that came out of the creek was highly acidic. Although the water was good enough to feed the water-hungry engines that came through, it wasn’t safe to drink. Hence, tank cars from the rail line would have to bring in fresh water for the community to survive.

This lack of drinkable water limited the growth of the community. But it didn’t hold back the pride of the residents. On Wikipedia, as well as other articles about the town, it is clear that they took pride in the fact that the community survived the Great Depression without a household going on welfare.

Ardmore, SD – formulanone, cc-by-sa-2.0

THE DOWNTURN

However, in the end, the lack of potable water served as the community’s undoing. The sandhills are drought-prone. In 1911 the USDA established a farm outside of Ardmore to experiment with dry-land farming. But despite the efforts, the town wasn’t able to establish an agricultural economic base.

The future of the town took another downturn as diesel engines took over from steam locomotives. Although trains still pass through the area, they no longer need to stop to add water.

The town started to dry up. By the 1930s the town was already referred to as a ‘ghost town’ by a visiting photographer. By the 1980 census, the population of the unincorporated community was 16 hardy residents. Through Google Streetview one can tour, at least from the viewpoint of State Highway 71. Abandoned houses now line the roads of this woeful town. Old cars, slowly rusting away, and other miscellaneous junk is strewn throughout the area.

Yet there are some that hang tight to the community that once was. The town has attracted camps during deer season. Organizers host a pancaked breakfast and a burger feed each November to benefit the Ardmore volunteer fire department.

Ardmore, Jerry Huddleston, cc-by-sa-2.0

LESSONS THAT CAN BE LEARNED

Ardmore’s biggest downfall was water, or lack thereof. The most rudimentary of life-sustaining needs. Although a patchwork arrangement through the railroad’s dependence on the community’s location provided water from an outside source, the residents didn’t truly have control of their own water supply. Much like many other rural communities throughout the Midwest, the community’s future hinged on the railroad that was the impetus for the creation of the community in the first place. Once the railroad had little use for the community, its future was in jeopardy.

All communities need assistance in one form or another, but when you are putting one of the essential elements to sustain a community in the hands of a private entity, it is not a good equation for success. This is not just a lesson in relation to necessary utilities though. Many company towns have withered away after their main employer moved on to greener pastures.

But this is not just a lesson of self-reliance or diversification of an economic base. It is also a lesson about concentration on the core community-sustaining aspects of your town. Neglecting necessary improvements to your water or sewer system can be catastrophic. As a consultant, I once worked for a community that “kicked the can down the road” regarding their sewer system. It wasn’t until EPA stepped in and costs rose significantly from the original estimate for improvements years before that they made the improvements.

Future proof your town before the future changes your town itself.