February 24, 2020
Project Awarded $28.5 K Grant
News Release (Feb. 24, 2020)
The Historical Society of North Dakota (HSND) has awarded the Stone Bank Project its largest-ever grant to Restore the Stone Bank on Bottineau’s Main Street. The Historical Society made the $28,491 grant to enclose the back 20 feet of the building.
The grant represents half of the funds needed to enclose the back of the building. Touchstones, Inc., the nonprofit that owns the building, needs to raise an equal amount to match the grant to complete the work by May 2021.
“We are delighted the Historical Society has again decided to make an investment in the Stone Bank Project,” says Sharon Kessler, the president of Touchstones, Inc. “The work we started in 2011 to restore the building and give it a new lease on life aligns perfectly with Gov. Burgum’s Main Street Initiative.”
The Main Street Initiative is an effort to provide tools and support to help communities capitalize on their strengths and to make them more vibrant and attractive to a 21st-century workforce.
“Our goal has always been to preserve this beautiful piece of Bottineau’s history and make it useful for another 100 years or more,” Kessler said. “The restored Stone Bank will nod to history and be a cornerstone for Bottineau’s future. We are going to work hard to match the grant and get the back of the building done.”
Donations can be sent to: Touchstones, Inc., P.O. Box 272, Bottineau, ND 58318.
Here are some pictures of the Stone Bank. It was build in 1900 by pioneer craftsmen from stones brought by glaciers to ND.
This is the original Bottineau County Bank, completed in Dec. 1900. The rear of the building was extended about 20 feet in the 1930s, but it was built on shallow footings and that caused structural issues in the back of the building. We dismantled the back 20 feet in 2011-2012 to put a proper foundation under it.
We completed putting down deep footings and a new basement a couple a years ago, but a lack of funding stalled our progress. With the grant from HSND, our plan is to match the grant and get this building enclosed in 2020. This photo shows where the original building joins the rebuilt basement wall. We have the stone and will reattach the facade when the back of the building is enclosed.
The floor joists are in. Our stone mason, contractor and roofer will make quick work on getting the back of the building enclosed in 2020. But we need to match the $28,491 grant to get it done. It’s time, and we hope you will help us make this happen.
This architect’s drawing shows what the completed building will look like when it is done. It’s going to look almost exactly like the old building, but we have extended it about 8 feet to make room for a handicap-accessible entrance. It’s going to be a building that is ready for Bottineau’s future.
We think the Stone Bank is a real touchstone with Bottineau’s history, and it will be around for generations to come. Your gift will really make a difference in 2020.
Leave a comment on the blog or send us an email at touchstones.inc@gmail. com. We’d love to hear from you and we love to hear stories about the Stone Bank.
June 22, 2018
We’re still here!
It’s been a long time since our last blog post, but we are always working behind the scenes to raise funds to get this project completed. We welcome input about foundations, nonprofits, businesses or individuals who would help us with a donation.
The Historical Society of North Dakota has been a great friend of the Stone Bank Project, but it has not received funding to distribute as grants from the Legislature. Without that funding, we have to raise money from other resources.
We created the Class of ’72 Challenge to ask our classmates and other classes to contribute to restoring and repurposing this charming, historic building. Come on, Class of ’72! If you haven’t contributed, please do so. If you have contributed, you can do so again or egg on a friend or relative to contribute as well.
In total, we need to raise about $60,000 to raise the back of the building and put the roof on. Together, we can get this done!
June 7, 2017
We aren’t crazy optimists; We’re ahead of the curve!
Sharon Kessler and Joe Whetter are spearheading the effort to return the Stone Bank to use. It was built in 1900 with stones carried to North Dakota by glaciers.
Joe Whetter and I were classmates at Bottineau High, but we didn’t know each other well. I am not sure we ever spoke in high school. But for the past six years, we have talked a lot about and worked to restore and repurpose a beautiful stone building on Bottineau’s Main Street that we now call the Stone Bank.
Joe, a stone mason, has done the heavy lifting – lending his know-how and strength to the project. Me? I write grant proposals, do fundraising and lead the board of a nonprofit dedicated to repairing the Stone Bank.
Our goal is to retain the building’s historic character while making it useful for another 100 years.
Since 2011, we have encountered asbestos, a very leaky roof and a crumbling back wall. Joe dismantled the back 20 feet of the building so we could put in a new foundation and rebuild the back.
We have worked with architects, historians and community members to meet this challenge – and it has taken time to raise the money to help us move the project along.
Fast forward to 2017. Smart Growth America, a D.C. nonprofit, says we are not crazy optimists – we are ahead of the curve!
Smart Growth works across the U.S. with elected officials, real estate developers, chambers of commerce, urban and rural planners and community groups and leaders in D.C. to improve everyday life for people across the country through better development.
In 2016, a Smart Growth team visited Bottineau, toured the community and surrounding area and met community leaders to help craft a vision for Bottineau’s future development. The resulting report offered six recommendations to help Bottineau remain a vibrant and growing community.
Guess what?
The No. 1 recommendation was “restore and repurpose historic structures for community revitalization.” Read the Smart Growth report.
The Smart Growth report specifically cites the Stone Bank Project and its slow progress because of “a lack of funds.” So, there you have it.
A great idea. A work in progress.
A lack of funds.
The Class of ’72 yearbook cover broke new ground with an abstract image of the Bottineau High entrance by our classmate Morris McKnight.
Forty-five years ago, the Class of ’72 graduated with eyes trained on the future. Now, honoring the past can be our legacy.
We are asking our high school classmates to lend a hand in the Stone Bank restoration. No heavy lifting involved. We are challenging each of our classmates to contribute $100 (or whatever you can give) to help pay for enclosing the new basement.
By June 30, we need to make a dollar-for-dollar match of a $20,000 grant from the Historical Society of North Dakota. If we can’t raise the match, we leave some part of the money for reconstruction on the table.
And we want other BHS grads to join the effort. Let’s see which class can move the most stone. Rock on!
All donations go straight to the project, and your donation will make a difference in 2017. In total, we only need to raise $53,000 (including $20k from the state) to enclose the building. Can you help?
Time is of the essence if we hope to claim the full $20,000 grant from the Historical Society of ND.
We have started a Go Fund Me campaign for online giving. Or you can mail a check to Touchstones.Inc. (The Stone Bank Project), PO Box 272, Bottineau, ND 58318.
We also accept gifts by PayPal.
Does your employer match your charitable gifts?
Touchstones is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit – so your gift is tax deductible AND eligible for an employer match.
Please, make a donation today. If you love Bottineau and its historic buildings, today is the day to show your support. Your gift WILL make a difference.
Thank you.
Sharon Kessler, a cockeyed optimist from the BHS Class of ’72
January 19, 2014
Old and Still Very Useful
Oh, how it makes the Stone Bank blogger happy to see a great old building with a new lease on life.
Right there on Main Street in Red Wing, Minn., is a Caribou Coffee in a red brick railway station from 1906. Not too crazy about the interior, but it’s just great to see this building standing, sturdy and useful. Hurrah.
Don’t you love a timeline? Here are the details:
Love it!
We want the same for our Stone Bank. Sturdy and useful and IN USE for the next 100 years or more.
For comparison’s sake: Bottineau County Bank (what we now call the Stone Bank) was founded in 1887. The Stone Bank was built in the last six months in 1900 — and replaced an earlier wood-frame building. It was Bottineau’s first bank, which failed in 1923. The building had many uses over the years and most recently was a lawyer’s office. We know that our restoration project will give it a new life in the next couple of years.
Do you have a favorite restored building in your home town or someplace you have visited? What was it built for and how is it now used? Send a photo and we will post it.
Thanks for reading the Stone Bank blog. Comments and contributions always welcome.
August 25, 2013
Progress in the Pit
We’re not talking barbecue here. We’re talking concrete and stone! And we are cooking, now!
The new footings are in at the Stone Bank. They need a week or so to cure — and then the rebuilding can begin.
The site was wet, because we found an old wellhead in the excavated site. This was the area where we found all the old bottles in the excavation. Makes sense. They didn’t have recycling bins in 1900, when the bank was built, so they tossed bottles into the well. We found out from a source at City Hall that several other old buildings on Main Street also have old wells.
What did we do? Our crew pumped out and filled the old well. Then the site had to dry out before we could proceed with the footings. We were also behind a much larger project at the Botno Readi Mix plant — so we also had to wait on our concrete.
Now the waiting is over and we can move on to rebuilding. As we finish the support structure in the coming weeks, we will install drain tile and make room for a sump pump, so the new basement will stay dry.
Now we need your help to make the rebuild happen. Yes, we have been fortunate in our grantwriting. But we need donations from the public to match the grants and keep things moving.
Can you help now? This is the turning point for the project. With your help, we will get this building up and the roof on this fall.
It’s easy: Dedicate a stone. Buy a T-shirt. Send a check or use our handy PayPal link to send a donation online. Help us rebuild this wonderful, historic building and put it back to use.
We know you care about this building, or you wouldn’t be reading this blog. Please take the next step and help us move some stone.
As always, thanks for reading the Stone Bank blog.
August 2, 2013
New Stone Bank shirts come out for ‘Crazy Days’
Advisory Board member Mike Dorsher unveiled our new T-shirts Thursday at “Crazy Days” on Bottineau’s Main Street. Touchstones President Sharon Kessler will be at the table Saturday afternoon. Come see us! Photo by Wenche Brandon N’Kjell-Hensch
“They” said we were crazy to save the Stone Bank building, so that must mean we’re the perfect participants for “Crazy Days” on Bottineau’s Main Street!
The event started Thursday and continues through Saturday afternoon. On Friday and Saturday there will be huge, inflatable play stations for kids right on our corner at Main and Sixth Streets. Merchants all up and down Main Street are offering crazy bargains on their sidewalks, and we’re proud to be one of them for the first time.
For a donation of just $15, you can get one of our colorful new “Stone Bank” T-shirts — in unisex sizes from medium all the up to 3X for the steel blue and in smaller-running women’s sizes S to 3X in the “antique cherry red.” You can also order our T-shirts and wristbands online here (with free shipping!), but if you stop by our Crazy Days table, you might win one for free. We’re giving away one women’s shirt and one blue unisex shirt to the gal and guy who come closest to guessing how many stones from our site are in the big plastic container on our table. You can enter for free, and you can also take our free survey about what the Stone Bank building should house when we finish preserving it in the next couple years — with your help!
So whether or not you can come see us at Crazy Days, please go a little crazy with your pocketbook and buy a new Stone Bank T-shirt, dedicate a stone in the name of a loved one or simply make a contribution using the PayPal or Razoo links to the right. Thank you!
June 13, 2013
Visit us at the Bottineau County Fair!
Today through Sunday afternoon, we will be one of the featured exhibitors at the Bottineau County Fair. Stop by and say, “Hi”; examine the architect’s blueprints for our Stone Bank Project; sign up for a daily drawing for a “Preservation Rocks!” T-shirt; get a wristband for $1 (or free, if you sign up for our email newsletters); and most helpful of all, sign up for our “Dedicate a Stone” fundraiser, at levels ranging from $25 to $500. We can even put through a credit card transaction from here at the fair.
Started in 1875, the Bottineau County Fair is the oldest county fair in North Dakota. It’s even 25 years older than the Stone Bank building. So what better place to publicize Bottineau County’s most historic Main Street building than at Bottineau’s historic county fair?
And even if you can’t make it to Bottineau for the County Fair, you can still “Dedicate a Stone” on our website — and buy a T-shirt or wristband here. Plus, if you “follow” this blog by signing up in the lower-right corner of this page, you’ll be on our list for email newsletters in the future.
Hope to see you at the fair. But right now, I have to go over to the First Lutheran lunch stand for my first piece of apple pie!
— By Mike Dorsher, Stone Bank advisory board member and webmaster
November 4, 2012
Razoo to You, too!
Greetings from Stone Bank fundraising HQ where we have some news to report. But first, let’s pause for a lovely picture of the Stone Bank.
Stone Bank at dawn on a clear, cold October morning. It simply glows in the light.
We are pleased to report some incoming contributions for the Stone Bank Project. A list of recent supporters is posted on top of the Stone Bank homepage. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We needed that. And that. And that.
Also, to make things easier for online giving, we have opened an account with Razoo. Ra-what? You ask.
Razoo is a national company that works with nonprofits around the country to raise millions for great causes like ours. We have posted a Razoo “donate” button on this page and on the Stone Bank’s homepage. No need to find an envelope, a stamp and remember our address — just click and give! Nearly 100 percent of your donation comes directly to the Stone Bank. (For instance, a $100 online contribution will bring $97 to the Stone Bank. Very fair for the ease and accessibility of the service. Give it a try. There are several other great Bottineau nonprofits on Razoo, too. Just search for Bottineau’s zipcode — 58318 — to find other worthy projects.
Did you know that November 15th is Give to the Max Day? Nonprofits across the country work to get out end-of-year donations on the National Day of Giving. We hope when you think of charitable giving that the Stone Bank Project is near the top of your list. And then you take action.
This is a critical time for your support, because at the end of the month our stone mason will finish dismantling the back 20 feet of the building. Your donations create the matching funds we need for $25,000 in grants that support this project.
The stone wall at left in this picture and the remaining rear foundation will be dismantled in late November 2012. Rebuilding over a new foundation is planned for 2013 with your support.
This fall’s work will ready the project for its “rebuild phase” in early 2013. So, Razoo to you! It’s a great way to help the Stone Bank Project move ahead. Thanks for reading the Stone Bank blog. We appreciate your interest in our project. Here’s another early morning shot of the bank. Charming and pretty! It glows in the light — and you’ll glow, too, knowing your contribution helped bring this historic building back to life.
Dawn’s light glows in the front window of the Stone Bank.
As excited as we are to offer online giving through Razoo, we won’t turn down your check. Send it to: Touchstones, Inc., 524 Main St., PO Box 272, Bottineau, ND 58318
October 1, 2012
Stone Love in the Mail!
Sometimes the mailbox can be the bearer of bad news and bills. But some days it’s full of birthday cards and good wishes.
A while back we got a great letter from Scott Swanson and he gave us permission to share it with our blog followers.
Scott’s dad owned the Stone Bank for about 50 years — so Scott spent a lot of time during his childhood inside the bank and outside — shoveling.
Here’s his letter:
Letter from Scott Swanson, used with his permission.
If you read this blog, you know that we are working hard to raise the money to continue work to save this wonderful structure. Can you help? We have $25,000 in grant money, but we need to match that with local funds to put the building back on solid footing and move it closer to a new life.
This picture from the Historical Society of ND show the Stone Bank in the 1970s. Do you suppose the 10-speed bike is Scott Swanson’s? Maybe.
Invite your friends and relatives to check out the blog or http://www.StoneBank.org. If you want to fill the Stone Bank’s mailbox with love and good wishes. Send your check to: Touchstones, Inc., 524 Main Street, P.O. Box 272, Bottineau, ND 58318.
Thanks for reading the Stone Bank Blog!
stonebankblog 
April 3, 2017
It’s time to finish this…
Posted in Friends of Stone Bank, Fundraising, Life, Main Street, Photos, Pictures, Promotions/Contests, Recommended Reading, Renovation, Uncategorized tagged comments, history, news, photos, pictures, places at 12:29 pm by stonebankblog
Let’s face it. WE are living in historic times! It was a winter of historic snowfall in Bottineau, but our friend Spring is finally pushing the snow into memory. It’s time to seize the moment and get back to the important work of enclosing the Stone Bank.
Of course, it’s always about the bottom line. That’s the challenge. And we are asking our classmates in the BHS Class of ’72 to lead the way. How? It’s easy.
We are challenging each member of the Class of ’72 to donate $100 to restoring the Stone Bank. We have lost five classmates far too young, and it would be marvelous if each of us donated in memory of those friends as well.
Those $100 donations would bring $7,000 to a project that really needs a financial shot in the arm. Together, we can give the project a boost and inspire giving from others with ties to Bottineau.
Why the class of ’72? Good question. Well, two of your classmates have been doing the heavy lifting on this restoration project. Joe Whetter, is a stone mason and an amazing advocate and partner on this project. I (Sharon Kessler) founded a nonprofit, have coordinated fundraising and planning to advance the project since 2011.
Now, we really need your help. It’s easy to give online. You can give by credit card through PayPal, Razoo or GiveMN.
Or you can send a check: Touchstones, Inc., PO Box 272, Bottineau, ND 58318
The time is now. We can’t do this alone. We need to make progress on the building in 2017 to keep the structure from deteriorating. It has been open to the elements for a couple of years. We need to show community participation and interest to generate grants — so your contribution really does make a difference. In total, we need to raise $58,000 to enclose the structure. Can you help?
Frankly, we are at a point in life, where many of us are thinking about legacy — the difference we made in the world. The good we will leave behind. This is a great chance for you to help preserve a piece of Bottineau history and make it useful for future generations of those who will call Bottineau home. Your $100 gift added to those of other classmates really will make a difference.
Please make a gift today, so we can move forward with restoring this community treasure. Let’s get this done, together.
Joe Whetter and Sharon Kessler, BHS Class of ’72
We would love to hear from you. Please send a note, your ideas and memories of Bottineau for the blog to touchstones.inc@gmail.com. Guest blog entries are also welcome.
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