James River Church commonly known as ‘’James River Church landmark and Lutheran Cemetery” is one of the three churches built in the early 1900s by the Norwegian congregation in the James River Valley. After a new church was built, the church was abandoned and left to the termites.

The history behind the James River Church

A group of Norwegians at James River valley came together in the mid-1880s to form a Norwegian bible study group that later became a small congregation. They later assumed the name James River congregation which they were given by the neighboring locals. With no church, the group held prayers at the congregant's houses until in the year 1885 when they decided to build a church. A local donated the unfertile land that he did not use for farming activities. During its first years of operations, the church was not used for services but Sunday school. It cost around 1400 US dollars to build the church plus a small cemetery at the back where the members of the congregation would be buried.

Rejecting the house of the Lord

At the beginning of the 1900s, the congregation had a disagreement that split them into two groups. One group decided to rebrand themselves and established their congregation called the Norway congregation. They too built a church in 1903 at 2100 US dollars. The two congregations for years held their services and events separately until the time they made peace with each other in the mid of the century. The two congregations merged once again after peace treaties between them. Since the congregation grew over the years, a bigger church was needed and in 1948, construction of the church began which took only two years to complete. The original two churches were abandoned as congregations relocated to the new church. 

What is the current state of the church?

The church together with the cemetery was declared a landmark and a national historic place respectively. The church is in good condition even though it had been abandoned for decades. The roof and walls are brightly painted and some of the stones on the grave are cleaned. Word has it that the church is maintained by local well-wishers whose grandparents and parents once prayed in the church.A ground leveled door which leads to the basement (basements were used as player rooms in the heydays) is also still accessible and in good shape. The cemetery and the church building are all not currently in-use. The property is off-limits to the general public and the doors to the interior of the building are shut locked. James River Church in North Dakota can be said to be the best-abandoned building of the century in terms of the condition.