BlockFrom the record
One of 9 National Register listings published here for Big Stone County · listed in 1985 · category: Building · built in 1892, Gothic architecture.
Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service
Columbian Hotel
Built in 1892 (Gothic architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
The listing
- Listing status. The Park Service records this property as Removed.
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
- Address. 305 2nd St., NW, Ortonville, 56278
- When was it listed? August 1985
- Category. building
- City. Ortonville city
- When was it built? 1892
- Architectural style. Gothic architecture
- National Register reference number. 85001766 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.
Fires near this property
12 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Columbian Hotel between 1993 and 2020, burning about 632 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 1993 | Debris and open burning | 19 acres | Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge | DIMBERG-WF |
| 2 September 2015 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge | BALER |
| 29 July 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | I90-346 |
| 11 May 2004 | Natural | 354 acres | Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge | SELLIN |
| 10 May 2013 | Debris and open burning | 117 acres | Morris National Wildlife Refuge | 285G |
| 28 April 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Morris National Wildlife Refuge | CR65 |
| 12 April 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | TIRE FIRE |
| 1 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge | GRAHAM |
Mines and quarries near this property
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Columbian Hotel: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agate Quarry | Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Big Stone Sand and Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this property
42 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ortonville, the town this property stands in, in 42 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 18 thunderstorm wind, 17 hail, 5 flood, 1 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | A trained spotter surveying for damage reported multiple trees topped, uprooted or damaged at a farmstead northeast of Ortonville. Minor structural damage to a small grain bin and outbuilding included shingles torn from the roof. |
| April 2023 | Flood | Ortonville | - | The Minnesota River at Big Stone Lake reached a level of 972.7 or 1.2 feet above flood. An unknown number of cabins and businesses along the lake experienced some degree of flooding or water damage. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | Sixty-five mph winds damaged a shed along with downing some large branches. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | Eighty mph winds ripped the patio off of a house which also caused roof damage. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | Eighty mph winds uprooted many trees at the Ortonville golf course. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | Many large trees were downed by eighty mph winds. |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | Winds over 100 mph caused quite a bit of tree damage in Ortonville. Some trees were downed along with many tree branches. Some businesses sustained some facade damage. There were a few structures that suffered roof damage ranging from loss of shingles to a section of the roof being blown off. A storage building on the east side of town near the intersections of Highway 75 and 12 was blown down with a grain bin destroyed half mile east. Another grain bin suffered damage when it was hit by debris from the first grain bin. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | Sixty mph winds were estimated in Ortonville. |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | Several large tree limbs were downed in Ortonville. |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | Winds gusting to 80 mph destroyed a barn and four grain bins near Ortonville. |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | Winds to 80 mph blew the roof off of the carpet store in Ortonville. The high winds also downed many large tree branches. |
| October 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | A garage was completely destroyed by damaging thunderstorm winds and doors on a nearby pole barn were blown off. |
| October 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | A line of thunderstorms producing straight line winds gusting to around 75 mph blew down several trees onto a home, a shed, and a motel in Ortonville damaging the structures. An uninhabited trailer home was rolled up hill by the strong winds. |
| May 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | Strong thunderstorm winds and large damaged cars and buildings in and around the Ortonville and Odessa areas. |
| July 1994 | Hail | Ortonville | - | Hail fell for several minutes and piled up about one-half foot deep on roads. |
| June 2025 | Flood | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| June 2025 | Flash Flood | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| April 2023 | Flood | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| July 2020 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| March 2019 | Flood | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| April 2019 | Flood | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| August 2019 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Funnel Cloud | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
| September 1996 | Hail | Ortonville | - | no account filed |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
4 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Ortonville Free Library | under 500 feet | 1985 |
| Ortonville Commercial Historic District | 0.1 miles | 1985 | |
 | Big Stone County Courthouse | 0.3 miles | 1985 |
 | Odessa Jail | 6.6 miles | 1986 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 85001766 in Record Group 79. |
| Big Stone County | All 9 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.