It is hard to say how many dreams have grown and died in any small town. It seems that you can almost always find someone in a small town who has visions of the town becoming bigger. More people, more business, more success--the promoters are always around somewhere. But across the plains there are plenty of small towns that are simply getting smaller. People have been moving to urban areas throughout history and that motion continues on the plains.

The twentieth century dawned with much of the land of the continental United States claimed. The homestead act had made land in the American West available for many people in the last half of the 19th century.The dream of owning land had become a reality in many places. But there were a few rural and isolated areas that had not yet been settled as the new century dawned. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad was pushing a new route to the west coast that opened up land not yet easily accessible from the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railroad routes. The Milwaukee Road made its way across northern South Dakota and entered the southwest corner of North Dakota after crossing the Missouri River heading toward a route across the center of Montana. By 1907 it had nearly reached the Montana line. The railroad was running out of names for the towns it platted along the route. Reeder, North Dakota, founded in 1907, got its name from E. O. Reeder, assistant to the chief engineer of the railroad. The railroad made it possible for homesteaders to access the land.They came. They settled.

Some made it. By 1910 there were 198 people on the census. By 1930, the census counted 395. By that time the Yellowstone Highway, the nation’s first transcontinental road, had been built and it ran right through Reeder.

The Great Depression was hard on the town. In the decade of the 1930’s over a third of the population pulled up stakes and moved away. Along with the rest of the nation, the community experienced a baby boom after the Second World War and the population nearly recovered, making it back up to 339 for the 1950 census.A couple of decades of slow decline followed but there was a brief boom in the 1970’s with the development of a coal mine nearby. When we arrived in the late ’70’s the population was up to 355.

The farm crisis of the 1980’s was nearly as hard on the town as had been the Great Depression. Just shy of 30% of the community had moved away by 1990. That decline has continued, with another 30% moving away by 2000. There are only 158 people left in town today. As the numbers get smaller, it is easier to count.

Businesses have been boarded up. The school has closed. There just aren’t enough children to make it feasible to keep it. The three churches in town are hanging on by a thread. None have full time resident pastoral leadership. It’s hard to say which will have one too many funerals and be forced to suspend regular services first. But the locals know that the day is coming when it will no longer be practical for the churches to remain open. A common phrase that you hear around town is, “I just hope it is around for my funeral.”

Life on the plains is changing. It has happened before. The territory of Southwestern North Dakota and Northwestern South Dakota was the area of the last of the great buffalo hunts. The near extinction of American Bison eliminated a way of life for natives. The influx of settlers and ranchers displaced the historic populations and the economy and nature of life on the plains changed.

These days the farm and ranch economy is such that it takes a lot of acres to support a single family. The population density on the plains has to decrease because there simply aren’t enough jobs in the rural areas for the people. Children grow up and move away. Elders die. The towns get smaller.

So it is with a bit of a heavy heart that we head up to Reeder this afternoon for a family service this evening and a funeral tomorrow morning. As I said before, the church is too small for resident pastoral leadership. Some of the services require pastors from out of town to come in and serve. Since we served that church for seven years and know many of the people and since we live relatively close at just 160 miles away, we try to serve when we are able. Monday is a day when we don’t have other things scheduled in our church.

This funeral is, for us, another sign of a community that is slowly fading from the plains. Before the crisis of the ’80’s, when things were going pretty well, one of our first stops when we came to town was the grocery store on main street. There was a cafe next door, where folks gathered for coffee. Downtown was a bustle of activity with the post office, a bank, the co-op, a bar and a couple of other businesses. Off of main street a machine shop, an auto body repair shop, a construction company and a couple of gas stations were doing good business. But we often made a stop at the grocery store. The owner was clerk at our church and always had a smile and a bit of news about what was going on in town. She was a matriarch of the church and of the community. Everyone called her “Sis.”

The years went by. We moved out of state and then a decade later moved to South Dakota. We kept up with the folks. We’d see Sis and Elwyn in our Rapid City church from time to time when they’d come to town to see their son or for shopping or medical care.

And now the time has come for her funeral. She’ll take her place in Rose Hill Cemetery next to neighbors and family members. She managed to live her whole life in the small town. And as we leave the cemetery tomorrow we will be aware that there is plenty of room for the few who remain in town.

The town is dying and none of us can say how long that will take. In the meantime, the folks who remain are good folks. There will be a good lunch and real signs of community as a part of this event. It is not over yet.

Copyright © 2013 by Ted Huffman. I wrote this. If you want to copy it, please ask for permission. There is a contact me button at the bottom of this page. If you want to share my blog a friend, please direct your friend to my web site.