Public input sought for Fort Totten State Historic Site National Register nomination

November 5, 2024

FORT TOTTEN, N.D. - The State Historical Society of North Dakota is hosting a public meeting at Fort Totten State Historic Site to present the draft updated National Register of Historic Places nomination for the site and to gather comments on the document. The meeting will be held Nov. 13 at 1 p.m. in the hospital/cafeteria building.

Fort Totten State Historic Site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, with the nomination focused heavily on the site's military history. From 1867 to 1890, the fort served as a military post. Decommissioned in 1890, it became property of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1891. The Fort Totten Indian Industrial School served as a Native American boarding school until 1935. From 1935 until 1939, it became a tuberculosis preventorium run by the federal government. When this program was discontinued, the site focused again on education as a day and boarding school for the Spirit Lake Reservation with more input and control assumed by reservation tribal leaders over time. The Fort Totten Community School closed in 1959, and Fort Totten became a state historic site in 1960. The goal of the nomination update is to tell the comprehensive story through 1959.

This project is funded by an Underrepresented Communities Grant, which is funded by the Historic Preservation Fund and managed by the National Park Service.

Fort Totten State Historic Site is located at 417 Cavalry Circle in Fort Totten. For more information, contact National Register Coordinator Lorna Meidinger at 701.328.2089 or email [email protected].

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CONTACT
Kara Haff, Public Information Officer
701.328.3547

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