The men, mostly oil workers who came to the area for work, compared it to being in prison.
That club closed in 2013, shortly after a New York Times article chronicled the town’s demographic crisis: Williston, with a population of just 14,716, is young and full of men - 60 percent of residents between the ages of 18 and 34 are male. Heartbreakers, formerly a strip club, promised a new beginning for Williston. While Williston residents gather for the annual Upper Missouri Valley Fair, complete with wrestling and a performance from the local hypnotist, the town sits silent, as if it’s waiting for something.
But since the oil dried up near the end of 2014, there’s less to go around these days. During the oil boom that blessed the region in the mid-2000s, that train brought prosperity to the town, with workers arriving to claim the spoils of overflowing black gold. The small bar, which holds 70 people at fire code capacity, is tucked away near the Amtrak station in Williston, North Dakota. It’s Saturday night, and Heartbreakers is empty.
