The Thomas D. Campbell House is a historic Gothic Revival style

log Log most often refers to: * Trunk (botany), the stem and main wooden axis of a tree, called logs when cut ** Logging, cutting down trees for logs ** Firewood, logs used for fuel ** Lumber or timber, converted from wood logs * Logarithm, in mathe ...

and wood frame home located in

Grand Forks Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

. It is significant for its association with Thomas D. Campbell, who became the largest wheat farmer in the United States. It is part of the Myra Museum and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. Built in 1879 for Thomas D. Campbell, the house consists of the original 1879 log cabin enclosed within a later Gothic Revival wood-frame addition, which is dated to ca. 1881–1900, with an overall L-shaped floor plan. The home has

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d roofs and

clapboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

siding. The main facade and south gables are distinguished by lace

bargeboard Bargeboard (probably from Medieval Latin ''bargus'', or ''barcus'', a scaffold, and not from the now obsolete synonym "vergeboard") or rake fascia is a board fastened to each projecting gable of a roof to give it strength and protection, and to ...

s, and the west gable contains a pointed window. A porch extends across the west facade and is supported by turned posts and bentwood arches. It is the only building remaining from the Campbell family's

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...

farmstead. The interior of the house serves as a museum, and is fitted out with turn of the 20th century furnishings befitting a family residence. The chinked log walls and hand-hewn loft joists of the original 1879 log cabin are exposed from within. At the time of its construction the Campbell house was south of the tiny settlement of Grand Forks; it was one of a string of pioneer homes along the Red River, with no other buildings in its immediate area. Associated with the First Dakota Boom and the pre-railroad (pre-1880) era, it is a significant example of the architecture of this period. Log structures were popular at this time due to the expense of hauling cut lumber down the river from the railhead in Fargo. The practice of constructing a fairly simple log home, to be supplanted or engulfed later on by a more substantial structure, appears to have been fairly common to the area at this time. The house is notable for being the only Gothic Revival farmhouse in Grand Forks and one of only a few houses of this style in North Dakota's Red River Valley region, and at the time of its enlargement was one of the finer homes in the area.

The Campbell family

Thomas D. and Almira Richards Campbell, immigrants from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, began their lives in the Red River Valley with a small farm. This grew to include of excellent crop land by 1898. By the turn of the 20th century Mr. Campbell had become a prominent real estate man in the city. The log portion of the home was the birthplace of General Thomas D. Campbell (1882–1966), who was known as the "Wheat King" and owned large tracts of land in Montana and New Mexico. Gen. Campbell was at one time the nation's largest wheat producer, and served in both

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. During the latter he developed a

napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated alu ...

firebomb used widely in the Pacific Theater.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Thomas D., House Canadian-American culture in North Dakota Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Dakota Houses completed in 1879 Houses in Grand Forks, North Dakota Historic house museums in North Dakota Museums in Grand Forks County, North Dakota Log cabins in the United States Carpenter Gothic architecture in North Dakota Scottish-American culture in North Dakota Tourist attractions in Grand Forks, North Dakota National Register of Historic Places in Grand Forks, North Dakota Log buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in North Dakota 1879 establishments in Dakota Territory

The Campbell family

See also

References