For every beautiful old house, there's one that looks like it should be torn down. And like most small towns in Spink County and across the state, Frankfort's hard times are reflected in things like the elevator on the edge of town that has been replaced by piles of rubble.
It takes a second look to see signs of progress - a community center flocked by two giant pine trees and the fire station, a large building which makes a huge presence on the town's very small Main Street.
But it's inside the fire station that one of the town's greatest signs of progress may sit - a female fire chief.
Thirty-five year old Kellie Blume may be the state's only woman chief - she doesn't know of any others and the state fire marshal's office couldn't think of any either - but in her five years with the department, she's become just one of the guys.
"I've been totally accepted here," said Blume who has both a tough edge about her and a mothering-like quality. "I work with a fantastic group of guys. The younger ones even call me mom. 'Mom, where's my gloves? Mom, help me find this.' They think it's funny."
For Blume, being a firefighter was always something she wanted to do. Her dad was a career firefighter in Ohio and she had always been interested in following in his footsteps. Her husband is also a member of the 28-person volunteer department, and her 10-year-old and 6-year-old sons love to ride in the fire truck.
"At first I didn't want to be the only woman," Blume said. "But they asked me to join. And then one time our secretary didn't show up for a township meeting, so I became the secretary. Shortly after, I was elected chief."
Three years later, she's still going strong and plans to keep doing so until she's voted out.
"It's just a neat feeling to have knowing that I'm a woman fire chief," Blume said. "Maybe it will open the door for someone else. It's really an honor."
More women: About 10 miles down the road, in Redfield, four more women know exactly how Blume feels. Dawn Oakley and Gerri Register are part of the Redfield City and Rural volunteer fire departments. They're joined by Lisa Heathman on the rural staff and Karen Stephenson on the city department.
Oakley seems the least likely to be found fighting a fire, although her love of the job is reflected in the way her eyes light up when talking about firefighting. The 43-year-old mom has a friendly demeanor, but her soft almost harmonic voice doesn't portray the blue-collar work she's capable of. She may be small in size - some of the guys call her gear Barbie doll gear - but her drive is big. When she first started five years ago, she asked Redfield City Fire Chief Richard Gruenwald to suggest a class to take to prepare her to be a firefighter. He suggested a rapid intervention course in which part of the training involves throwing someone over your shoulder.
"I could have killed him after that first day," said Oakley who also works as a emergency medical technician and a surgical technician at the Redfield Community Memorial Hospital. "I was bruised from head to toe but it was excellent. That's where I got the confidence. I knew I could do it then."
And so did Gruenwald.
"She was definitely mad at me," he said with a laugh. "But by a half day into it, she appreciated it. It gave her the confidence she needed."
Heathman, 43, also took the class.
"When I first started, I wasn't sure of myself," said Heathman, who works as a paramedic at the Redfield hospital and has been with the department for five years. "Now, (Dawn and I) both are involved in the education. We teach."
Both Oakley and Heathman got involved in the department for similar reasons. "We're adrenaline junkies," Heathman said with a laugh.
For Register, 26, it was a family thing.
"So many people in my family are firefighters," she said. "But being that this is such a small community, you know most of who you're helping. We're all a team."
Nationwide, more and more people are following the lead of all the women firefighters in Spink County - from Blume and the four in Redfield.
Women in Fire Service, a national not-for-profit organization, estimates that 6,200 women in the United States work as full-time firefighters, another 35,000 to 40,000 women volunteer their time with departments like those found in Spink County, and there are approximately 150 female volunteer fire chiefs.
Gruenwald said things have changed a lot in the past couple of decades.
"Back about 15 years ago, we had two women on the rural department," he said. "One of them happened to be my wife. They just did paperwork. The girls we have now, they go to fire school and suit up when we have fires."
Gruenwald said the changes with having active female firefighters on the department have been positive.
"The language at the fire meetings got cleaned up a lot more and people are more gentlemanly," he said with a chuckle. "I don't see that as a bad thing."
