Downtown Devils Lake Historic District

Forty-seven downtown properties make up the Devils Lake Commercial District, a U.S. National Park Service recognized historic district listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Devils Lake was established by Heber M. Creel in 1882 and gained a connection to James J. Hill's Great Northern Railroad line to Minneapolis. American, Canadian, and European immigrants then poured into the area, and a boom economy developed largely around agriculture, driven by free or inexpensive farmland, new strains of spring wheat suited to the local climate and to flour millers' needs, and rail transportation to Minneapolis flour mills. The first commercial district, made up of sixty-five wood-frame buildings, was destroyed by fire in 1884, after which new commercial buildings were required to have brick and stone exteriors. The buildings in the current district were constructed between 1885 and 1937, with six surviving from before 1900, including the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) Building of 1885, the oldest in the district. Most properties were built during the Second Dakota Boom from 1900 to 1915 and the post-boom period from 1916 to 1937, shaped by a second influx of immigrants after parts of the Fort Totten Indian Reservation were opened to private land acquisition in 1904, by Devils Lake's growth as a commercial center and railroad hub, and by the adoption of automobiles for local transportation. Though the district is composed mainly of two-story brick and stone commercial buildings, it includes a variety of architectural styles, with functional and fire-resistant construction taking precedence over stylistic unity. Much of the brick came from the Red River Valley Brick Company of Grand Forks, and the district reflects a blend of popular eastern design trends with the practical needs of a boom-town economy expressed in locally available materials.

Devils Lake, North Dakota · United States