Welcome to the Pembina Walsh Historic Trail (PWHT). Earn a commemorative tag after finding five caches in each county. Fill out the PWHT Passport at: https://rendezvousregion.com/download/passport.pdf and submit it to receive your tag(s). Our caches are located at the most interesting historical sites in Pembina and Walsh County in northeast North Dakota. This trail includes a number of gadget caches designed by Trycacheus.
The Grafton National Guard Armory building was built in 1954 and designed by Wells Denbrook Architects, a prominent architecture firm in Grand Forks. The late-Modernist designed Armory building was part of national trends in post-WW2 Armory developments during the Cold War years. The nation's Armories were often constructed as dual-function building to serve the Guard and the neighboring community. Armories serving local communities as civic centers became important focal points fo community life. The Grafton Armory formally closed in 2017, ending a 132 year history of active North Dakota National Gaurd posts in Grafton. Today, it continues to function as a community center for the City of Grafton.
South East of the Armory, across Hill Avenue, is the Grafton City Hall. Designed by architect Theodore B. Wells in 1937. The City Hall building was added to the south side of the Fire Hall. A portion of the Fire Hall and the City Hall were built under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) program. Many of Wells' projects were funded through the WPA during the Great Depression throughout the region. Today the Fire Hall remains in use by the Grafton Fire Departent and City Hall houses city offices and the police department