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By Mark William Weber May 2020 Fitting that the Emmons County Museum is located in one of the oldest buildings in Linton. The building that houses the Emmons County Museum was built to serve as St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church. Construction started in 1902, and the bricks of the structure were made of sandstone found in a quarry northeast of Linton. In December 1902, strong winds blew down the rafters of the partially completed church, but construction continued, and the church was completed in April 1903. Despite having a small congregation, St. Matthew’s held services for nearly 40 years under 10 different pastors. The church closed from January 1929 to February 1932, but resumed services for three more years. The Rev. Nelson Elsworth, who oversaw the completion of the church some 30 years earlier, returned to the church in September 1934, and St. Matthew’s continued to hold services until it was no longer feasible to maintain the building for such a small congregation. The church closed its doors for good in the late 1930’s. In subsequent years, the altar, baptismal font and pews were given to the Braddock M.E. Church [Page 31], and the organ was donated to the Strasburg Care Center. The furnace of the church was later sold, and the building sat empty for nearly four decades. The Emmons County Historical Society [ECHS] was chartered by the State of North Dakota as an independent organization on April 11, 1973. The purpose was to institute and maintain a county museum, and to preserve and disseminate information relating to its local history. In December 1973, the building and property of St. Matthew’s were designated for a county museum, and the ECHS established a museum on the property in 1974. Improvements were made on the roof and exterior brick, but the windows of the structure were left in place. In the past 45 years, the museum has constructed an additional exhibit building on the property. A two-story house with a detached garage (located across the alley to the east of the museum) have also been acquired by the ECHS, and are used as part of the museum exhibits. The house was originally built as a rectory for St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, and was used as a private residence from the time the church closed until the late 1980’s.
First published on Facebook "Histories of Cities, Towns, and Places" where Mark has several more articles on Linton history.
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