Railroad namesakes
Many of North Dakota’s cities, counties, and streets were named for key people of the Northern Pacific Railway, who was chiefly responsible for selecting townsites along the route of its northern transcontinental railroad, constructed during the 1870s and completed in the early 1880s. This includes counties like Burleigh, where Bismarck is located, named for Walter Burleigh, who was a contractor for the railroad. Bismarck’s original name, Edwinton, was named for Edwin Johnson, the former chief engineer for Northern Pacific. Other examples include cities like Steele, counties like Stark, and streets like Bismarck’s Sweet Avenue. Tower City was named for a man named Tower, who was an official with Northern Pacific, not because of a literal tower.
It was only the Northern Pacific Railway’s influence either. Minot’s namesake was an investor in Great Northern Railway, owned by rail tycoon James Hill. Daniel Willis James, namesake of Williston, was a friend of James Hill.
Zip to Zap: North Dakota’s only riot
Zip to Zap was the only riot to have occurred in North Dakota that required assistance by the National Guard to end.
Some estimates say 3,000 people descended on the small town of Zap to attend a spring break festival organized by an NDSU student. Before long, it became a full-out riot by the drunken crowd. Several buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged as a result of the riot. The campuses of NDSU and UND assessed surcharges to its students to help pay for damages.
It was the lead story on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.
Largest Scandinavian festival in North America
North Dakota is home to a lot of Scandinavian ancestry, so it’s appropriate that the largest Scandinavian festival in North America is held in Minot, known as the Norsk Høstfest, which was started by then-mayor Chester Reiten, whose family owned several television stations in the state.
Happiest state
North Dakota was named the happiest state in the United States in 2014. In another survey, North Dakota was named the happiest state that tourists are least likely to visit.
Chokecherry is the official state fruit, and rhubarb is the state vegetable
Chokecherry is the official state fruit, and rhubarb is the state vegetable. Both are on the bitter and tart side, hopefully that doesn’t say something about North Dakotans. Remember, it was the happiest state in the nation in 2014.
Famous Faces
Many famous faces have called North Dakota home, including Peggy Lee, Lawrence Welk, Virgil Hill, Phil Jackson, and Josh Duhamel.
Popular novel & feature films
If you think… popular feature film and North Dakota, you probably think of the 1996 film Fargo, despite that most of the film takes place in Minnesota. Most don’t realize that a best-selling novel based on an influential North Dakota figure was also adapted into a feature film a total of 5 times! One of which starred John Wayne.
Published as a novel in 1906, The Spoilers is based on the real-world illegal takeover of Alaskan gold mines by Alexander McKenzie (renamed Alexander McNamara in the novel). McKenzie was a powerful North Dakota political boss, credited with securing Bismarck as capital. He was arrested in 1901 and served three months in prison before getting pardoned by President McKinley. He was the first North Dakotan to receive a presidential pardon.
Stable ground: earthquakes are rare
North Dakota is one of the rarest states to have earthquakes because it sits on a stable continental platform far from active fault lines. Earthquakes do happen in North Dakota but they are so small they are not generally felt.
At least 13 sizable earthquakes have been recorded in North Dakota since being settled in the late 19th Century. The largest occurred on May 15, 1909 with an epicenter in Saskatchewan.
One such occurred on July 8, 1968. The quake started at 11:52 a.m. and registered as “about a four” on the Richter Scale. The tremors could only be felt for a few seconds, but the quake was recorded for one minute and thirty-five seconds with the center about ninety miles south-southeast of Bismarck near Ashley. It was there, about eight thousand feet beneath the surface that two sections of bedrock shifted.
Most didn’t even recognize it as an earthquake. Some thought it was the shockwave of a sonic boom. One man thought the elevator fell in his building, while another thought that a construction crane hit his home from building a house next door. In any case, the earthquake caused minimal damage outside of the splashing of liquids and clattering of dishes.
https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/ndnotes/ndn4_h.htm
No voter registration
North Dakota is the only state in the nation without voter registration. Any adult citizen who can prove they’ve lived in the state at least 30 days prior to an election is eligible to vote. It seems to neither hurt nor help voter turnout as North Dakota is right in the middle of the pack for turnout rate. Nationwide average was 63.9% in 2024, North Dakota was 63.1% according to Balotpedia.org.
Biennium legislature
North Dakota is one of only four states with a biennium legislative cycle, meaning its legislature meets every two years. The session is also limited to a maximum of 80 days. This is largely a relic from a time when transportation was long and difficult to accommodate farmers and ranchers who may be legislators to reduce the amount of time away from their farms and ranches.
Presidential cabinet members
6 North Dakotans have served in Presidential cabinet positions, including former Governor Doug Burgum who currently serves as President Trump’s Interior Secretary. Burgum is the second North Dakotan to hold that position, after Thomas Kleppe who served under President Ford. Former Governor Ed Schafer served as the Secretary of Agriculture under President Bush, and Warren Cristopher as Secretary of State under President Carter. Two North Dakotans have also served as U.S. Treasurer.
Admitted as a dry state
Going against its wild west reputation of frequent drunken brawls, North Dakota was admitted to the union as a dry state – 31 years before nationwide prohibition. That’s not to say alcohol consumption necessarily decreased. Bismarck’s Patterson Hotel infamously setup an elaborate alarm system to avoid problems with the law and, according to local legend, smuggled alcohol from an underground tunnel connected to the railroad depot across the street.
One of the first integrated baseball teams
Bismarck had one of the nation’s first integrated baseball teams, for which Satchel Paige played for before making the jump to the big leagues. Neil Churchill – a Bismarck businessman and politician – established the team in the 1930s. It was officially known as the Bismarck Club and popularly known as the Bismarck Churchills after its founder. The team won the 1935 National Baseball Conference semi-pro baseball tournament. They won 104 out of 105 games that season; Paige was the starting pitcher for each.
One of North Dakota’s governors was forcibly removed from office for felony corruption, then re-elected governor and Senator
If there was an award for the most controversial North Dakota historical figure, William “Wild Bill” Langer may win that prize. His first stint as governor ended with his forced removal after two felony convictions and sentenced to 18 months. Instead of resigning gracefully, Langer declared martial law and declared North Dakota’s succession from the United States.
You would think such a thing would end one’s political career, but Langer maintained strong support. He returned as governor 3 years later and then was elected to the United States Senate, which prompted a year-long Senate investigation that produced a 4,200-page report proclaiming Langer to be morally unfit to serve. But he was allowed to serve nevertheless when it was decided his moral unfitness was known when North Dakotans elected him. He served 18 years in the Senate until dying in office.
Oh, and that only scrapes the surface of Langer’s colorful political career.
North Dakota had one of the first female gubernatorial candidates
Although North Dakota has not yet elected a female governor, it did have one of the first female gubernatorial candidates. Lynda Langer, wife of ousted Bill Langer, ran for the office in 1934.
Kennedy’s heroic secret service agent was from North Dakota
Clin Hill of Larimore, North Dakota was a secret service agent under President Kennedy, chiefly assigned to protect Jackie Kennedy. He’s famously seen in assassination videos leaping onto the back of the limousine to shield Jackie.
North Dakota had one of the largest internment camps in the United States
Fort Lincoln, located south of Bismarck, was one of the largest World War II internment camps located inside the United States. While some states, namely California, had more overall prisoners, Fort Lincoln is said to have been the single-largest such camp. It housed mostly Germans, as well as some Japanese. Given North Dakota’s strong German heritage, and Germany’s post-war condition, many of the former German prisoners ended up taking up permanent residence in North Dakota following the camp’s closure. Today, the former camp is home to United Tribes Technical College.
Nation’s second-oldest clinic behind only Mayo Clinic
Established by Doctors Quain and Ramstad, Q&R Clinic was the nation’s second multi-specialty clinic to open, after the famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The clinic survives today as part of Sanford Health.
The only Big Boy with a drive-through; and one of the first KFC franchises.
Bismarck’s Big Boy is the only one with a drive-through. In fact, it offers no indoor seating or pickup window at all, and it’s always been that way since its 1954 opening. By comparison sake, that was more than 20 years before McDonald’s added its first drive-through.
The Big Boy location was also only the fourth KFC franchise in the nation. While the local KFC franchise has since been spun off, the Bismarck Big Boy continues to offer KFC familiars.
Cold weather firsts
With long, cold winters so it’s not surprising that businesses have adopted such firsts as the first Holiday Inn in the nation with an indoor enclosed swimming pool, something done against the objection of Holiday Inn at the time. It also had one of the first Sonics to offer drive-through service.
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