October 13, 2021
 

North Dakota Property Listed in National Register of Historic Places

BISMARCK, N.D. – St. George’s Episcopal Memorial Church in Bismarck has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register of Historic Places is the federal government’s list of properties it considers worthy of preservation and recognition. North Dakota nominations are coordinated by the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

St. George’s Episcopal Memorial Church was originally patterned after Cass Gilbert’s 1898 St. John the Divine Episcopal Church in Moorhead, Minnesota, but the design evolved through the 1940s until it was built in 1949. The final design by Herman Leonhard blended Gothic Revival architecture with contemporary design and boasted unique features such as reinforced pumice concrete and stained-glass windows commissioned by Barton, Kinder, and Alderson of Brighton, England, that used recycled glass from churches bombed during World War II. This was the first building in the northern United States to employ pumice concrete, and the stained-glass windows are the only known examples of their kind in the country.

Contrary to some misconceptions about the National Register program, listing in it does not prevent owners from altering their property, restrict the use or sale of the property, or require establishing times that the property must be open to the public. Entry into the National Register of Historic Places does give a property prestige, provides protection from adverse effects in federally assisted projects, and provides eligibility for certain preservation financial incentives.

For more information about the National Register program in North Dakota, contact
Architectural Historian Lorna Meidinger, State Historical Society of North Dakota, at 701.328.2089 or find information online at history.nd.gov.

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CONTACT
Lorna Meidinger, 701.328.2089

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