Bantry, ND
McHenry County
Inhabited as of 5/10
Bantry is a small near-ghost town in McHenry county, about 15 miles northwest of Towner. It is very picturesque and harbors numerous vacant structures.
According to North Dakota Place Names by Douglas A. Wick, Bantry peaked at a population of 315 in 1920.
US Census Data for Bantry
Total Population by Place
1960 – 93
1970 – 40
1980 – 28
2000 – 19
2010 – 14
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All photos by Troy and Rat, copyright SonicTremorMedia.com
Seems like not that long ago we were buying offsale at Franks Bar!!
my grandpa clarence kubler us to own a little shack out ther for trapping, and he use to go to the bar there and latter on worked at that bar
looks like its a near ghost-town. i dont have much information on this place, other than what ive read online but they must still have a working post office which indicates residents still live there. i received a postmark back today from the post office. obviously someone that works there because it was in a usps envelope with postage paid….
My mother’s family used to own Frank’s. Frank was her uncle.
My grandma Anderson’s sister owned Frank’s place. Was a customer a time or two. Still remember a time when my wife and I took my Grandma and Grandpa Torr to Frank’s Place before the rest of the relatives came for Christmas.
My mother worked at Franks many years ago. She stopped there in the 70′s. I have pictures of them at the bar.
This is very interesting. When I was a kid we spent some time visiting my relatives in Bantry. I cannot remember the people (it was at least 45 yrs ago) but they owned the store in Bantry. Gosh just cannot remember the name anymore…have to ask my brother and sister if they do. He smoked a large cigar if I remember right. We used to go there on Sunday afternoons to visit. I think he was my Dad’s fathers brother or some thing like that….darn…if I remember I will post again and give more details. If I remember right the store with the angled entry was his store at the time. I think they had a sale back in the late 60′s or early 70′s after the famiy retired or died. I can remember he had old tires from the 40′s that were wrapped in bands of paper..new…just not sold. What I would give for nos stuff like he had then!!!!! Could retire. HA HA…anyway…will find out more and post again…great site!!!!!
The store was owned by the Swansons.
What happens if someone actually decides to do somethin with these abandoned buildings? Does anyone know who to talk to?
My mom, Sherry (Forbes) Shafer, married my stepfather, Robert (Bob) Shafer. He was born and raised on the little farmstead just on the other side of the highway from Bantry. He and my mom had a ranch and raced pacers in the Towner area and up in Manitoba. Their ranch was only about 5 miles from the farmstead he was born on, just follow that winding gravel road (you’ll see 1st Farmstead of Fred Shafer where dad and his 5 sisters were born n raised) and go down winding rd and on the left is a lil house nestled in trees and a BIG white, was white..barn..you can’t miss it. They were married in Newburg, ND another ghost town where my mom and my brother and I grew up..and the wedding dance was @ Franks Bar on Dec,1985. I went to many dances @ the bar. When I was in high school, my best friend would ride her horse from Upham and id ride mine from Bantry and we’d ride all over looking for abandoned farms back in 1983 LOL. Love the pics 8)
Ivy Daugherty was my Grandmother and I spent many fun summers in Bantry and Souris.
JV Swanson Salt Lake City Utah
My grandparents Frank and Edith ran Franks Place. My uncle John did also. I now have the antique bar that was in Franks Place. 6 years ago I had an addition built on my house and spent 4 months refinishing it. I spent my childhood summers there and couldn’t imagine never seeing it again. I’m sitting at it now as I write this. I still drive down Main St. Bantry once a year, visit the cemetary, and take lots of photos of a little town that meant a lot to me.
Candy — I knew your Mom and your uncle Danny. I grew up on a farm south and west of Newburg!! We used to go to a horse farm – or pony farm? – near Bantry. It was a favorite place because we got to ride all the poinies. I believe we even bought a pony there — Sugar!! In high school and right after, we used to go to dances in Bantry at least once every summer!!
Joanne Bahn Dieterle
Don’t forget Dean Norris
My father’s side of the family was from Bantry. My aunt Margaret (Thorsteinson) married Warren Romsos and spent their honeymoon in a little one room shack in Bantry. Many of my descendants are in the cemetery there…My Dad left Bantry in 1948 and went to California….much of our family from Bantry did….all the brothers and sisters, I think. My dad tells me he would go into Frank’s place when he was a real young kid and sing “you are my sunshine” for nickels…he saved up and bought a bb gun from the hardware store….boy was his mom mad when she found out he’d been hanging out at the bar singing on the tables for money! My relatives from the Bantry area from those days would have been Swearsons and Thorsteinsons. My grandmother was Anna Swearson, and was later married to my grandfather Joseph Thorsteinson.
The house in Bantry my dad grew up in is now gone, but the “big tree” in front remains…..it was struck by lightning and blown to smithereens, but it is somehow still alive….and he still remembers that day very clearly…how do you forget THAT!!! He tells me stories of how cool it was to ride “the goose” into Bottineau for something like .10 cents.
I can remember visiting Frank’s place with my dad in about 1975….I was only like 8 years old, but I remember the old sleepy cat in there, and the pizza maker….that cool old wood bar, etc….
Darrin,
My mothers best friend in school was Thelma Thorsteinson-any relation? The two of them were very close. She was in Bantry at Franks with her sister and great aunt in 1977. I have pictures of them at the bar.
Yes Thelma was would’ve been my Aunt, but she died many years ago….she was long gone by 1977.
I was born in ’68 and unfortunately never got to meet her.