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Adolph Shirley, Stubborn Farmer

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It’s not every day that someone refuses a $20,000 payment from the government, but that’s exactly what Adolph Shirley did. On this date in 1986, the Bismarck Tribune reported that Shirley refused payment for land he would lose to the Garrison Diversion.

Adolph Shirley was born in 1905, on a farm three miles from Manfred, ND, where he lived his entire life. His parents had moved to the farm in 1895. Adolph and his brother Gillman attended prep school at Concordia Academy in Moorhead for three months, but they had to be sent home after contracting scarlet fever. Adolph would later graduate from Fessenden High School.

Shirley farmed his entire life, keeping the farm going after his parents retired. The family home burned down in 1933, but was rebuilt on the same site. He enjoyed writing poems and music, publishing two songs before he turned 30. He was also a lifelong member of Vang Lutheran Church in Manfred, and he helped it gain listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Shirley recalled that when was a small child, the church services were conducted only in Norwegian.

Even though Mr. Shirley retired in 1966, he stayed in the family home on seven acres of land, and owned majority interest in 560 acres in all. In 1972, when he found out that the New Rockford Canal would run right through his front yard, he started writing letters of protest. The canal would cut him off from the quickest route to the grocery store in Harvey and force the removal of some trees, his granary and a chicken coop. Despite 14 years of protest, the government finally laid claim to the land, but Mr. Shirley refused to sign. His land was condemned and he received a $20,000 check, which he promptly returned. Construction on the 42-mile-long canal began in 1986.

Shirley may have lost some of his land to the canal, but he never left his home. He died at age 100 in 2005, survived by many nieces and nephews. He never married, and the home was eventually torn down.

Dakota Datebook by Trista Raezer-Stursa

Sources:

Curry, Colleen, “Standing in the way of progress: for this Manfred farmer, Garrison project has been a nightmare,” The Bismarck Tribune, Juley 6, 1986, pg. 1.

Author Unknown, “Emil and Anna Shirley,” https://www.manfrednd.org/copy-of-shirley-adolph accessed June 2, 2021.

Author Unknown, “Adolph Shirley,” https://www.manfrednd.org/copy-of-shefveland-martin-and-regin accessed June 2, 2021.

“Adolph Shirley,” The Bismarck Tribune, December 19, 2005, pg. 5.

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Vang Evangelical Lutheran Church, May 15, 2001. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/01000674_text accessed June 2, 2021.

Dakota Datebook is made in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota, and funded by Humanities North Dakota, a nonprofit, independent state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities North Dakota or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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