Kenmare, ND

Kenmare is a Ward County city on U.S. Highway 52, 50 miles northwest of Minot. It was organized in 1897 as homesteaders and the Soo Line built a new town in the Des Lacs River valley; the name is generally linked to Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland. The 2020 census counted 961 residents. Farming and energy development remain part of the surrounding economy.

Kenmare's downtown park square carries the older settlement story in physical form. A Danish windmill built in 1902 was moved into the city in 1959 and now stands at the center of the square. Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge, whose headquarters are in Kenmare, brings birding and waterfowl habitat into the city's orbit, while the Pioneer Village and Museum preserves a 22-building settlement-era collection. The city also keeps the high-school class-year rocks along the hills south of town, a tradition dating to 1945. Kenmare is a prairie service city where rail settlement, school traditions, wildlife habitat, and the park square all meet.