Challenges of growth

As many communities in western North Dakota have seen, growth and change can also be paired with adversity.

Recent improvements made to the rail crossing in South Heart, just north of the Farmers Daughter Café, were supposed to make the town a train “quiet zone,” thought Hurt said that paperwork has yet to be completed on the project.

“Right now, we’re not a quiet zone,” Hurt said. “Everything is complete, we’re just waiting on all the paperwork to be finished and turned in by the other parties involved.”

Though South Heart does not have a full-time police presence, Hurt said that members of the Dickinson Police Department have been patrolling part-time for about the past year. The Stark County Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating a January break-in that occurred at the café, which has added to worries of some in town about increased crime.

“With more people will come more of a lot of things,” Robb said. “When I got here and bought my home, there weren’t that many homes around the golf course. Now, the original lots are almost all gone and there’s that new subdivision by the driving range. This is definitely a growing community.”