We stopped for lunch in Ortonville during our trip to photograph some places in July of 2012, and we couldn’t pass up the chance to shoot a few places in such a beautiful little town.

Ortonville is a small resort town of about two thousand nestled on the southern shore of Big Stone Lake, right on the South Dakota border. Downtown Ortonville cascades down the side of a hill to the beautiful lakeshore, and is dotted with historic structures. Most notable is the Columbian Hotel. Although the Columbian looks to have gone through at least a partial restoration at some point, there was no visible activity on the Saturday afternoon we visited. We weren’t sure of the operational status of the hotel, but we noticed it was on on the National Register of Historic Places.

UPDATE: This hotel burned to the ground just months after our visit. Sadly, it is gone forever.

KSFY/Sioux Falls reported on October 26th, 2012:

At about 3:07 am, Ortonville Police and Fire Departments were called to the fire at the intersection of Northwest 2nd Street and Jefferson Avenue.

The initial report stated fire was coming out of the basement windows of the old Columbian Hotel building. However, when police and fire crews arrived they found the building totally engulfed by flames.

The hotel was completely destroyed in a fire. You can read more about it and see a few photos courtesy Bluestem Prairie.







Look at those rates!

This is the Ortonville Water Department building, dating to 1933. It’s right along the shore of the lake. There’s a public beach and waterfront dock just behind the trees on the right.

See a lot more photos of Ortonville here.

Photos by Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp, copyright © 2012 Sonic Tremor Media LLC

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