Marmarth, ND
Slope County
Inhabited as of 5-07
Marmarth, ND is a Badlands town in Slope County, five miles from the Montana border. It is in the extreme southwest corner of the state, and is just a three hour drive from Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.
Marmarth is the most populous town you’ll see on this website, with 130 people according to the 2010 Census and bare minimum conveniences. There’s a gas station, a bar/steakhouse (with excellent food), and a railroad bunkhouse where you can rent a room with a double bed for $15 per night. Marmarth has lost 190 residents since 1960.
The most prominent abandoned structure in Marmarth is Barber Auditorium. It’s actually two buildings, Barber Auditorium and First National Bank of Marmarth.
The train depot has been cut in two pieces and relocated to a stretch of grass along the highway as you enter from the east.
CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
See more photos of Marmarth here.
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Was Marmarth a railroad “crew change” point at one time? Just curious as the bunkhouse is of pretty good size. Who operates this yet? How did the town get it’s name? Does any railroad still operate through town yet? I thought for many years as I see all the long abandoned buildings, if “they could talk”, what stories could the buildings tell us. Of their beginnings, memorable events such as storms they survived, families that owned them, laughter/happiness and the sadness they feel being alone now.
Thank you for this wonderful site!
My dad grew up in that area of the world. He said the town got its name from someones two daughters: Mary and Martha.
From “North Dakota Every Town on the Map and More” by Vernell & Louise Johnson, Marmouth was named for Margaret Martha Fitch, the grand-daughter of the president of the railraod ( the Milwaukee Road most probably) in 1907. From Google Earth you can see the foundations of what looks to be a 12 stall enginehouse and a wye for turning around. Since ther weren’t any branchlines here I would assume it was a crew/power change stop. The last info I have says that BNSF owns the line, but I don’t know how active it is.
looks like it hasn’t been such along time since people lived there. it’s to bad!
People still live there. It’s just shown here because there are a lot of empty buildings.
In the years 1948-50, we played basket ball on the second floor of the auditorium. That was when Marmath had a high school and we were the visitijng team from Bucyrus
I grew up in Marmarth as my dad ran the standard station where the post office is now located. It is not as bad as it looks from these pictures. I believe the current population is about 120. It has a great bar/cafe(the Pastime). It also has gas station and another cafe/beauty shop. Also a town center building for meetings etc. The catholic church is open. It has a car museum. The old railroad bunk house is open for renting rooms. During the summer the population swells as “bonediggers” come to dig for dinosauer bones.