Nestled in the James River Valley, Adrian was developed as a railroad town
BY JOY POWERS

Welcome back to our series on the James River Valley along County Road 63. As we travel up the road we come to the town of Adrian, a small town nestled in the valley quietly, but not forgotten.

With a prairie so vast and the long, cold winters in the years around 1880, it all began with two brothers by the name of Charles and Arthur Porter.

The Northern Pacific Railroad had been laid through the James River Valley. With abundant crops the Porter Brothers built a loading platform. This was the beginning of the town called Porterville, in honor of the two brothers. Within a few years, Jim Bradway established a store with the post office located inside. It wasn’t long after this that the depot was erected.

A few years later, a railroad official that had the right to name towns took away the name of Porterville and gave the town the name, Adrian, after a town he knew well in Michigan. Another version of how Adrian was named tells that it was named after an early pioneer called Adrian Jordan.

In the early 1900’s Adrian maintained a population of over 350 people. It had two blacksmith shops, two grocery stores, two implement dealers, and three grain elevators. Other businesses at that time were two lumber yards, two general merchandise stores, one butcher shop, one ice cream parlor, a livery stable, feed mill, billiards hall, two dance halls, a bank a school, two churches, a depot and a barber shop. The people came from many different nationalities, but worked hard together to build their new home.

The first business in Adrian was the Bradway Store established around 1886-1887. The Bradway Store housed the first Adrian Post Office in 1887. The Adrian Free Press, a weekly publication, was published by E.M. McEwen from 1892-1898.

In 1904 Fred E. Roehr came to North Dakota. He opened a general merchandise store in Montpelier in partnership with Mr. Stott. Two years later Fred moved to Adrian to join his father in

the operation of a general store there. Over the years, the Roehr store changed hands several times. As people in the area purchased more and more cars, a gas pump was installed out front. The gas was pumped up into a 10-gallon glass container. In the late 1940’s the back room was opened up for use as a dance hall. In the fall of 1952 the building burned down.

The first one-room school with a bell tower on the roof was located on the hillside east of the railroad tracks sometime during the 1880’s. As the town began to grow, the need arose to build a new two-room schoolhouse in 1912. It was in 1920 that this school caught fire and burned. School was then held in the two churches of Adrian at that point. In 1922 the new four-room schoolhouse was completed. This was the first school large enough to enable the school board to offer their students a high school education.

Prior to 1924 any students that had wanted to receive their high school education had been forced to attend another school in the area. In 1928 that the Adrian School had its first graduating class. Through the years, the high school struggled to hold a teacher with the credentials for the school to be able to graduate students. 1945 brought about the last graduating class from Adrian High School. The students from Adrian were sent to Dickey, Marion, LaMoure or Edgeley.

Adrian, a small town in the valley that prospered and grew, slowly began to dwindle. A town that held businesses such as the First State Bank of Adrian, the Ziegenhagen Hardware and Implement Company, the Old Pool Hall, the Livery Barn, John Johnson’s Harness and Shoe Repair, the Adrian Stockyards, a post office, the Adrian Opera House or Town Hall, the Meat Market, the Village Smithy, Powers Elevator Co., the Ceres Elevator, Valley Oil Co., the Adrian Equity Elevator, the Vermeer Baler and Equipment Sales, and many others still sits quietly and peacefully in the valley. This small town lives on; the spirit never dying as Adrian remains a part of the James River Valley.

Just outside of Adrian sits the Heinrich-Martin Dam, built in 1968 with funds received from the North Dakota Game and Fish Department and the Soil Conservation of LaMoure County. George Heinrich and Russel Martin donated the land and the project began. Volunteers from the Adrian community came out to build the recreational area and donated all of the materials. The picnic shelters, a small concession building, a flagpole and outhouses were added in 1976 along with a swimming area, beach and footbridge. The Heinrich-Martin Dam shoulders a peacefulness and calmness that offers visitors the perfect spot for fishing, picnicking, or just a great spot to relax in.

Follow along with us the next time as we close this series by exploring Saratoga Springs, a town that only exists as a memory today.