Editing Amenia, North Dakota (section)

==History==
The town of Amenia traces its roots to a group of wealthy New England investors from the villages of [[Amenia (town), New York|Amenia]], [[New York (state)|New York]] and [[Sharon, Connecticut]] which formed the [[Amenia and Sharon Land Company]] and, in July 1875, under the representation of Eben W. Chaffee, purchased {{convert|27,832|acre}} of land from the then bankrupt [[Northern Pacific Railroad]]. The stockholders' plan had been to develop the land enough to sell it to settlers, thus quickly realizing a return on the investors shares. However, taking notice of the success of the Cass-Cheney-Dalrymple [[Bonanza farms|bonanza farm]] near [[Casselton, North Dakota]], and the exceptional fertility of the soil, Chaffee convinced the stockholders to hold the land and break the prairie sod for the production of wheat.  The company built a depot and, in 1881, a [[grain elevator]] in order to move their product to market.  Around them grew the village of Amenia. By the mid-1880s, the town had grown enough to require school services and to build a [[Congregational church]]. Chaffee was among its earliest residents and continued to be a central figure in the development of the town.<ref name=Chaffee>{{cite news|last=Swift|first=Tammy|title=N.D. bonanza farmer lived interesting life before perishing aboard the Titanic|url=http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/234007/|access-date=April 4, 2012|newspaper=Grand Forks Herald|date=April 4, 2012}}{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Hunter|first=William C|title=THE AMENIA AND SHARON LAND COMPANY|url=http://library.ndsu.edu/repository/bitstream/handle/10365/10510/Mss0134History.pdf|work=Amenia and Sharon Land Company records (Box 1, Folder 2)|publisher=Institute for Regional Studies & University Archives North Dakota State University Libraries|access-date=April 18, 2012|year=2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123170524/http://library.ndsu.edu/repository/bitstream/handle/10365/10510/Mss0134History.pdf|archive-date=January 23, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>