All aboard to Guelph, North Dakota, where a local couple turned an 1887 depot into a B&B (2024)

GUELPH, N.D. — This southeastern North Dakota hamlet is so tiny that GPS sometimes struggles to detect it, and there isn't a school, elevator or post office.

But if you need somewhere to stay, look no further than the 1887 Guelph Depot, which can easily accommodate 15 guests — temporarily doubling Guelph’s population in the process.

The historic building was renovated two years ago by Drew and Lindsey Courtney, who farm a fifth-generation family spread northwest of Guelph. They saw a need for accommodations after Guelph’s citizens fixed up the old school right up the road and turned it into a wedding venue/event center several years ago.

The Courtneys turned the derelict depot with tinned-over windows into a light, bright Air BnB with soaring, open-beam ceilings, four bedrooms and architectural details celebrating the depot’s past life.

Contributed / The Guelph Depot

Since then, their little inn on the prairie has been surprisingly busy. They’ve hosted everyone from snowmobiling groups and an American Legion baseball team to a baby shower for 40 guests.

This spring, when a construction work crew built a digital storage center in Ellendale, about 20 miles from here, they stayed in the historic building — and loved it.

““They’ve been in a hotel room for five or six weeks and you’re eating supper on your couch and it's a pizza. So they like being able to take their shoes off and just grill and sit around the fire and be somewhere outside of their hotel room,” Lindsey said.

Their busiest season is fall, when groups gravitate to this area in Dickey County known for its excellent waterfowl hunting. Accordingly, they offer heated dog kennels and a bird-cleaning shed.

“We have some people who are staying already for their second year,” Lindsey said. “If they like it, they’ll be coming back the next 20 years because they found something they like and they don’t want to lose out on that lodging piece either. They can do grilling, have outdoor fires and they’re out in the country. People appreciate that.”

Guelph (originally called Thatcherville) was founded in 1883, according to “Granary of the Plains, 1883-1983,” a history book compiled by the Guelph Centennial Committee.

Locals were thrilled when they learned the Manitoba Railroad — which would eventually become part of the Great Northern Railroad — would stop in their little community. The presence of a railroad could help ensure a town's survival.

The depot’s completion in 1887 was celebrated with a big dance, which attracted residents from all over the county.

Chris Flynn / The Forum

Although the building didn’t have electricity or running water, several railroad foremen’s families lived on the second floor — carrying the water they needed up the narrow stairs.

The first floor held a freight room, an agent’s office with telegraph, and a waiting room. The latter also was a refuge for sacks of mail as well as cans of cream awaiting shipment to the Twin Cities.Depending on the weather, the cream cans sometimes sat outside. All had their own distinctive marks — a tag, a brass plate or a paint splash — so the dairy farmers could easily identify the cream of their own crop.

For a period, the waiting room served as a makeshift locker room for high school basketball players who played hoops at the "Puffers Hall," an old opera house with a "crackerbox" court which was used before the school's regulation-size court was built.

The depot closed in 1961. The Guelph Farmers Elevator leased it as a warehouse until 1968, when it was purchased by Drew Courtney’s uncle, who moved it to its present location and used it to store seed, feed and old machinery.

Chris Flynn / The Forum

It was 2022 when Drew Courtney considered buying the building for cold storage. When he walked through the building, guided only by a flashlight beam, he was greeted by pitch blackness and decades of unwanted items.

But by the time he made it up to the second floor, he started seeing potential. Perhaps the 137-year-old building could become a bed-and-breakfast.

The Courtneys had already successfully turned another old building into a B&B. Several years earlier, they had converted an old six-bin granary on the edge of their farmyard into Dry Run Lodge, a 10-bed facility with Wi-Fi, dog kennels and all the modern amenities.

This time around, it took some convincing to persuade Lindsey, a former teacher who was carrying their fourth child (baby Graham), taking care of their three young daughters and looking after their house and the Dry Run Lodge. But she eventually shared his vision.

"We could have had a reality TV show,” Lindsey recalled, laughing. “It was mass chaos, but we got it all done.”

Chris Flynn / The Forum

“It’s marriage-building when I try to get my ideas across to Lindsey,” Drew said, grinning. “Especially like what it looked like before. It was something. It took an imagination. I have a degree in construction management — so I can usually really picture the layout and everything before we have to get things going. And she needs to see it when it’s done, so there’s a lot of trust in what I’m doing.”

After stripping the building down to its studs, they hired two local finish carpenters to help build a re-imagined interior. “They did a phenomenal job,” Lindsey said.

The building's original interior consisted of bare wooden boards, which had to be peeled off so they could install spray-foam installation. Afterward, drywall was installed, although they kept one of the original wood plank walls exposed so people could see how it once looked. This accent wall also features historic artifacts found during construction, down to the original telegraph wires still embedded in the wall.

Contributed / Guelph Depot

“My husband and I have an appreciation for history, so we definitely appreciated that and left a few things that were original,” Lindsey said.

Some of those old wallboards were used to make baseboards. With the help of their two oldest — Avery, 9, and Ella, 7 — they pulled out the nails when they were home on snow days. (Little sis, Claire, now 4, was still too little, but the older girls enjoyed contributing to the renovation.)

“And they were square nails and if you threw it, it made a sound — wooo!” said Avery, adding explanatory sound effects.

Contributed / Guelph Depot

They were able to restore the original hardwood flooring on the second floor, but the rough, wide-plank flooring on the first floor was "too toast" to be refinished, Drew said.

“Before they started burning coal on the trains, they used to split wood, right on the floor here,” he said, pulling back the vinyl flooring in a storage closet to show the wide floorboards tattooed with ax slashes.

They chose to keep the interior brick chimney exposed to add texture and interest. The Courtneys said they found at least 20 liquor bottles and cans while renovating the chimney space, suggesting some foreman or employee in the depot's long history didn't mind mixing business with Pilsner.

Chris Flynn / The Forum

The stair rail to the second floor includes another railroad artifact. Drew incorporated a 3-foot hunk of steel train track, totaling 150 pounds, into the industrial-style, cable banister.

The most dramatic part of the depot is the open living/dining/kitchen area, with its transom windows and exposed-beam ceiling which stretches to 17 feet tall at the peak.

“We left it open concept to have a little bit of different architectural and design structure to it,” Drew said.

The building also includes modern amenities like washer/dryer, wi-fi, fire pit, gas grill and an extra-big smart TV for meeting presentations.

Rates start at $200 per night for the whole house. Reservations can be placed through Air BnB.

The “new old building” has made an already-busy family even busier, but it’s been worth it to the Courtneys. They not only got to restore an important part of Guelph history, they can help re-energize the little town.

“It’s so fun to pull up and see anywhere from seven to 12 guys sitting around the fire and grilling and chatting,” Lindsey said. “It’s fun to come into town and see that going on.”

Find "The Guelph Depot" on Facebook.