Depression Era Work Relief Construction Features at Menoken State Historic Site

Depression-era construction features at the Menoken Indian Village National Historic Landmark site reflect the active role of the North Dakota State Historical Society in acquiring, interpreting, and presenting the state's history and prehistory. The extensive development of state parks and state historical sites during the depression era for their educational benefits to the people of North Dakota is a testament to the imaginative vision of Russell Reid, Superintendent of the State Historical Society of North Dakota. In addition to the archaeological significance of the primary resource, the National Historic Landmark, Depression Era park features of the historic site are significant under National Register Criterion C for incorporating the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or represent the work of a master, or possess high artistic values. This criterion may be met if a building is constructed with finely crafted indigenous materials, or a distinctive construction method often associated with specific federal work programs such as the Works Progress Administration.

The Menoken Indian Village archaeological site was initially "rediscovered" in 1936 by Walter Powell. The Menoken site was purchased by the State Historical Society in February 1937 for the purpose of protecting the prehistoric resources and encouraging their scholarly analysis and interpretation. Under SHSND sponsorship, the Works Progress Administration funded archaeological investigations by Thaddeus Hecker and George F. Will in 1938-39. With characteristic modesty, Russell Reid wrote retrospectively in 1940, "Although many valuable additions to the state park system were acquired prior to the advent of Emergency Conservation Work Programs, it can truly be said that the development of North Dakota state parks and historic sites really commenced with the establishment of the first CCC park camp assigned to the state." Though people often think of parks as recreational amenities, the historic site is treated here as part of the state's educational infrastructure owing to the vision and imagination of Russell Reid. Utilizing federal work relief funding resources and labor, the State Historical Society actively sponsored research and historical documentation projects, artifact collection, and interpretation of sites in equal proportion.

Under Reid's leadership, during the 1930s the State Parks Committee an appointive body under the authority of the State Historical Society of North Dakota) solicited design recommendations for a variety of interpretive features on state historic sites, including kiosks, shelter buildings, signage elements, and markers, all utilizing a design vocabulary that was sympathetic to the undisturbed nature of the primary feature being interpreted. Generally speaking, one objective was to treat the interpretive features and signage in a "background" way that would not compete with the historic resource being interpreted. Reid's background was as a conservation-minded "naturalist", so implementing modestly scaled, unobtrusive constructed features on sensitive natural sites was a natural "fit" with the design values of site interpretation he advocated.

Reid and the State Parks Committee approached federal work relief projects opportunistically. The immediate entry of federal spending programs into the drought-stricken state proved to be Russell Reid's opportunity. For immediate impact, some initial layout work and boundary marking at the Menoken site may have been initiated by CCC stonework artisans as a "side camp" from Bismarck's camp DSP-1, or from the Mandan Fort Lincoln CCC camp SP-3 where the extensive stone cutting was ongoing. The uncut nature of stonework at the Menoken site suggests that the majority of it was done by WPA crews rather than by the CCC. Larger park projects statewide were fully implemented by the Civilian Conservation Corps, while smaller projects such as the interpretive features at the Menoken site were carried out by smaller WPA crews funded under "blanket" sponsorship. In each year, 1937, 1938, and 1939 Reid submitted sponsorship applications to WPA separately for "professional services to inventory, analyze and report on the historic resources, and further, "to preserve, restore, and develop the historic sites for public usage."

Funding for the work relief portion of state historic site construction activities ranged from $29,730 to $53,640 per annum, applied to some 35 historic sites statewide. The pertinent state historic sites and scope of their treatment were enumerated by Superintendent Reid in a retrospective 1940 article on "The North Dakota State Park System" in North Dakota Historical Quarterly. A few specific construction projects were also submitted and funded separately by WPA as individual projects, such as the $4,177 project 100606 funded in 1936 for the stone building constructed at Whitestone Hill Battlefield, destroyed by fire in the fall of 2009. The majority of WPA funds were used to pay for labor, such as the $27,786 allotted for labor and $1,944 for materials in 1937.

WPA Docket rolls reflect the scope of relief construction work in a typical year.

State wide. Restore and protect historic sites and structures and archaeological features. Develop small parks on historic sites for use by the public. Work also includes erecting descriptive signs, fences, and shelters, marking building sites, constructing footpaths and parking areas, and building tables, benches, and exterior fireplaces. This project will operate throughout the State of North Dakota, with headquarters, for the purpose of supervision, at Bismarck. Work will be performed on State-owned property. The work proposed is not a normal budgetary function of the sponsor and no regularly employed personnel will be displaced. A sponsor is a public body with legally vested authority to perform this work over the area involved.

The design approach for the Depression Era interpretive features at state historic sites reflects Superintendent Reid's direct engagement and growing familiarity with the picturesque design vocabulary and materials sometimes characterized as "WPA Rustic", regardless of whether the agency performing the work was the Works Progress Administration or another agency, such as the CCC.

Emulating design work being done by the National Park Service, Reid was not formally educated as an architect, but throughout the 1930s he learned from interactions with academically trained designers like landscape architect Weldon Gratton of the NPS, with whom Reid worked extensively on projects at Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park and the Chateau De Mores. Russell Reid's coordinating role on behalf of SHSND state parks section was far-reaching in terms of the agency's development of historic resources for public education. A consistent vocabulary of materials and design expression is reflected among the state's historic sites where work was accomplished during the Depression Era. The work is significant because of the unusual palette of materials and the subtle "background" way in which the interpretive features introduce and interpret the historic features, without distracting from their native setting.

Resources constructed under the auspices of New Deal federal relief projects are considered in the context of the entire property and its history. The work relief construction features at the Menoken site possess integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, and association, without substantial alterations. Original materials and prominent features should remain intact. The integrity of design, setting, material, and workmanship are particularly in evidence. The resource retains its original design in form, massing, plan, organization of space, structure, technology, materials, and style.

Apart from the established National Landmark significance of the Indian village archaeological feature, the interpretive features dating from the late 1930s are significant at the statewide level in the context of federal work relief construction in North Dakota.
Significance is primarily under Criterion C for the distinctly Rustic style, the native fieldstone materials, and the labor-intensive method of construction that utilized work relief labor. In their park setting, the fieldstone features have secondary significance under Criterion A for the historical patterns of Depression Era relief work in North Dakota and the pervasive role of Russell Reid and the State Parks Committee in establishing the infrastructure of a statewide system of state historic sites as an educational resource.