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Photograph of Burke County Courthouse
Photograph by Jon Roanhaus, CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Burke County Courthouse

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

From the record

“The Burke County Courthouse in Bowbells, North Dakota, was built in 1928. It was designed by the Minneapolis firm of Toltz, King, and Day, who also designed the Barnes County Courthouse and the Ward County Courthouse.”

Wikipedia article Burke County Courthouse (North Dakota), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 4 National Register listings published here for Burke County · listed in 1985 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Main St., Bowbells, 58721
  • When was it listed? November 1985
  • Category. building
  • Also known as. North Dakota County Courthouses TR
  • City. Bowbells city
  • Architect. Toltz, King & Day
  • National Register reference number. 85002979 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

12 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Burke County Courthouse between 2005 and 2020, burning about 111 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was 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/undetermined6
Debris and open burning2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
6 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceNGATE
3 August 2005Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Servicenot named
24 August 2020Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceCP
16 August 2016Debris and open burning1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Service2016016
4 June 2020Naturalunder an acreNorth Dakota State Forest Service4172
6 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceFOLSKE
29 April 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceSAGNESS
28 February 2018Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceRAILROAD

Every fire recorded in Burke County

Storms near this property

28 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bowbells, the town this property stands in, in 28 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 15 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 tornado, 2 lightning. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2010Tornado (EF3)Bowbells$700,000This tornado crossed from Burke County into Ward County. Note that for roughly three miles in the vicinity of the Des Lacs River, U.S. Highway 52 runs right on the Burke and Ward County line. The tornado was right on the highway in this area. This was the location of the worst damage with this tornado. Farm property on the north side of the highway, Burke County, and on the south side of the highway, Ward County, was impacted. One fatality and one injury occurred here, in a single automobile travelling along the highway, on the county line. The vehicle came to rest in a field, nearly 200 yards off the highway, on the south side of the highway, on the east side of the river, in Ward County. See the EF3 tornado entry for Ward County from August 12.||This third tornado touched down just northeast of Bowbells, Burke County, and tracked east-southeast along U.S. Highway 52, and into Ward County where it dissipated. This EF3 tornado was spawned from the same supercell thunderstorm that earlier produced two brief and weak tornadoes in Burke County.||Meteorologists from the National Weather Service conducted a storm damage survey on Friday, August 13, 2010. Meteorologists walked through the area and spoke with numerous people affected, some of whom were eye witnesses to the event.||Significant damage occurred nearly six miles east of Bowbells, near the Des Lacs River, where U.S. Highway 52 is on the Burke and Ward County line. Three farms were impacted. The worst damage was on the Burke County side of the highway and west side of the river, where a farm home (DI 2, DOD 8) and six outbuildings were destroyed. Nineteen of 21 grain bins were also damaged or destroyed. In addition, a fifty foot air seeder connected to a cultivator, with a combined estimated weight near 60,000 pounds, was moved approximately 100 yards. Based on a lack of scratch marks in the ground it was determined that this equipment was picked up and carried through the air. A second farm, on the Ward County side of the highway, had trees in shelter belts snapped and uprooted and the chimney on the house damaged. A third house, this one on the east side of the river and the Ward County side of the highway, also had significant damage. Here, one camper was thrown into the river on the south side of the Highway 52 bridge that crosses the river, while another camper was thrown into the river and landed on the north side of the bridge, back into Burke County. The house had damage to siding and shingles.||Of all the damage surveyed the absolute worst corresponded to a high EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Tornado Scale. From that it was determined that peak wind speeds in the tornado were on the order of 165 mph.||One fatality and one injury occurred in an automobile in this same immediate area. A car with two occupants travelling east along U.S. Highway 52 was picked up and carried over the Des Lacs River, and came to rest 200 yards off the highway, in a field east of the river, and on the Ward County side of the highway. The driver of the vehicle was injured and the passenger was killed.||See the other two tornado entries for Burke County, and the EF3 tornado entry for Ward County from August 12 as this tornado crossed into Ward County.
June 2024HailBowbells$100,000Hail combined with wind to cause crop damage. Buildings were also damaged, along with trees.
August 1997LightningBowbells$5,000lightning struck in a field where 1500 hay bales were stored. Quick reaction by the farmer and fire crews resulted in a loss of only 100 hay bales.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindBowbells-Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated by emergency management.
September 2013Thunderstorm WindBowbells-Pea size hail accompanied the strong winds.
July 2012HailBowbells-The hail resulted in significant damage to crops.
August 2010Tornado (EF0)Bowbells-A brief tornado touched down in the open country west of Bowbells. No structures were impacted so no damage was done. This tornado was spawned from the same supercell thunderstorm that later produced another brief tornado in Burke County and a long tracked high end EF3 tornado from Burke into Ward County. See the other two tornado entries for Burke County and the tornado entry for Ward County from August 12.
August 2010Tornado (EF0)Bowbells-A second brief tornado touched down in the open country just west of the Bowbells airport. No structures were impacted so no damage was done. This tornado was spawned from the same supercell thunderstorm that earlier produced a brief tornado in Burke County, and later produced a long tracked high end EF3 tornado from Burke into Ward County. See the other two tornado entries for Burke County and the tornado entry for Ward County from August 12.
July 2001HailBowbells-Hail covered the road.
August 2000Tornado (F0)Bowbells-Touchdown in open country. Tornado remained in open country as it crossed into Renville county.
July 1998Tornado (F0)Bowbells-Numerous reports were received of this tornado, the first report coming from Minot Airforce Base personnel. Numerous brief touchdowns were reported along its path but no damage was reported.
August 1998LightningBowbells-99 year old church destoryed by fire caused by lightning
June 2024HailBowbells-no account filed
July 2022Thunderstorm WindBowbells-no account filed
July 2022Thunderstorm WindBowbells-no account filed
August 2019HailBowbells-no account filed
June 2016HailBowbells-no account filed
August 2010HailBowbells-no account filed
June 2004HailBowbells-no account filed
June 2004HailBowbells-no account filed
August 2003HailBowbells-no account filed
July 2003HailBowbells-no account filed
August 2002HailBowbells-no account filed
August 1999Thunderstorm WindBowbells-no account filed
August 1999HailBowbells-no account filed
September 1996HailBowbells-no account filed
July 1994HailBowbells-no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindBowbells-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Burke County

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.

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 85002979 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Burke CountyAll 4 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.
  • 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.