Billings, Montana-based reporter Matthew Brown upended stereotypes with a deeply textured, intimate examination of a North Dakota community transformed by sudden growth.
As part of the AP's ongoing coverage of the 2020 Census, Brown went to McKenzie County, North Dakota — the center of the western oil boom and the fastest-growing county in the U.S. — to examine the impact of dramatic growth on a sleepy community on the western prairie. He charted the growth through the eyes of the people, from the old-timers who remembered riding horses through fields now lined with housing developments and oil wells, to newcomers finding their way into the fabric of the community.
Dana Amon finds the name of her stepfather who fought in World War II on a monument at Veterans Memorial Park in Watford City, N.D., Aug. 25, 2021. Amon, who grew up in a double-wide trailer on a farm on the edge of the county seat, Watford City, remembers riding her horse across fields now dotted with tracts of modest housing lit up at night by the flares from nearby oil wells. “Our little town just blew up at the seams,” she said.
AP Photo / Matthew Brown
Students in the first grade run through a gymnasium at Fox Hills Elementary School in Watford City, N.D., Aug. 26, 2021, in McKenzie County. School enrollment tripled over the past decade and is expected to double again by 2030, as McKenzie County became the fastest-growing county in the U.S.
AP Photo / Matthew Brown
Cars move down Main Street in Watford City, N.D., Aug. 25, 2021, in McKenzie County. A drilling boom made McKenzie the fastest-growing county in the U.S. over the past decade according to the 2020 census.
AP Photo / Matthew Brown
Yolanda Rojas talks in Los Saguaros, the restaurant she owns with her husband in Watford City, N.D., Aug. 26, 2021. The couple saved enough money to open the restaurant in March 2020 — just as the pandemic arrived. The business was teetering on failure when Rojas reached out to the community on social media. People in Watford City rallied to help, regularly ordering takeout to keep the family afloat.
AP Photo / Matthew Brown
Howdy Lawlar repairs a barbed wire fence on his farm, Aug. 25, 2021, in McKenzie County, N.D. Lawlar says a rush of newcomers who more than doubled the county’s population over the past decade have become part of McKenzie’s “extended ”
AP Photo / Matthew Brown
Parents J.T. Smith, left, and Virginia Smith talk with their children James and Crystal at the Watford City Assembly of God church in Watford City, N.D., Aug. 25, 2021. The family moved to McKenzie County from Texas after J.T. got a job in the North Dakota’s booming oil fields.
AP Photo / Matthew Brown
AP / FRANCOIS DUCKETT
The story that emerged in Brown’s evocative words and photos came as something of a counternarrative to preconceived notions about how divided Americans are from one another. As demonstrated in graphics by Francois Duckett, a significant portion of McKenzie County’s newcomers are Hispanic, but many of those Brown interviewed described being embraced by the locals: the new restaurant owner helped along by customers who responded to social media pleas after the pandemic shut down in-person dining, or a transplanted family touched by the small-town charm of friendly faces saying hello in the grocery store.
Brown’s nuanced reporting and writing gave his story a compelling narrative arc and showed the value of going to see firsthand what happens when a community is confronted with dramatic growth.