Dakota Datebook

Every year, dozens of communities from across the country compete for the prestigious All-America City Award, presented by the National Civic League. George Gallup, founder of the Gallup Poll, once called it the “Nobel Prize for constructive citizenship.”

Bismarck is home to a house inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. The beige brick house built in 1963 and 1964 is of the Usonian design. These “modest” houses, represent Wright’s ideals in construction, in part because they are “bound to nature, and responsive to the lives of their inhabitants.”

May is National Historic Preservation Month! Today, we’ll hear about some of the historic places in North Dakota that are included in the state’s Historic Sites Registry.

For years and years, the biggest tree in North Dakota grew along the Goose River in a pasture on the farm of Arthur Hanson.

Reeder, Wolfe, and Wasche came to Wahpeton during the boomtown years and became very wealthy. They envisioned the civilizing influence of a massive brick opera house on the corner of Dakota Avenue, the main street of the rowdy frontier town. Key to the venture were several railroad lines running daily to cities where acclaimed dramatic and musical acts were based. Entertainers and audiences could arrive and depart on tracks behind the building.

During the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt was anxious to get into the action. He raised a volunteer cavalry unit for the conflict. Famously known as the Rough Riders, Roosevelt’s volunteers served in Cuba and took part in the battle of San Juan Hill.

May is National Historic Preservation Month. Today we will hear about some of the historic places in North Dakota that are included in North Dakota’s State Historic Sites Registry.

The United States was not prepared for a foreign war as tensions with Spain rose in 1898. Then, on February 15, 1898, the battleship Maine exploded in Havana Harbor. Two hundred sixty American sailors were killed, and war seemed inevitable.

North Dakotans are familiar with severe weather. The state is no stranger to tornadoes, hailstorms, blizzards, and floods. But geologically, North Dakota is quite stable. Since 2010, the state has recorded thirty-one earthquakes. That might sound like a lot, but by comparison, California can experience more than thirty-five earthquakes in just twenty-four hours.

The first North Dakota capitol building was completed in 1894, five years after statehood. It was destroyed by fire in the early hours of December 28, 1930. The state wasted no time beginning work on a new capitol, even selling off 160 acres of the capitol grounds to help fund construction.

On this date in 1922, Loretta Lang was born in Williston, North Dakota. After graduation, Loretta worked for the Williston Press-Graphic newspaper. On New Year’s Day in 1942, Loretta married Stanley Lord before he joined the Navy. Stanley was sent to the Pacific war front, and Loretta moved to the West Coast.

May is National Historic Preservation Month. Today, we’re highlighting some of the historic places included in North Dakota’s State Historic Sites Registry.

When settlers arrived on the Great Plains, communication was slow. Mail was delivered by stagecoach and took days to arrive. Mail arrived faster by Pony Express than by stagecoach. Riders galloped from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, making the journey in ten days. The Pony Express did not do well on the northern Great Plains. In 1860, the route ran from Grand Portage in Minnesota through Fargo and out to Medora. It came to a quick end when severe winter weather made the journey virtually impossible.

In December 1856, Henry Rice presented an enabling act to Congress that would allow Minnesota to begin the process of becoming a state. He based his proposal on Minnesota’s rapid population growth. The bill easily passed the House of Representatives, but the Senate was another story.

In 1883, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West went on tour. The show combined theater, circus, and rodeo. It was inspired by Cody’s experiences as a Pony Express rider and Army scout, and it romanticized an American West that was already disappearing. Spectators flocked to the show, which included a buffalo herd, sharpshooter Annie Oakley, and reenactments of stagecoach robberies. It also featured a band of Native Americans, including Chief Sitting Bull. The Native performers welcomed the chance to leave the reservation and return to riding, and they were paid as well as the white performers.

Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower led the 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy, a venture designed to test whether military units could move across the United States using motor vehicles. The convoy crossed the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, completing the 3,251-mile journey from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco in 62 days but not without difficulty.

May is National Historic Preservation Month. Today, we’re highlighting some of the historic places listed in North Dakota’s State Historic Sites Registry.

Mail order catalogs are nothing new — they have been a staple of Americana for well over a century. Perhaps the most famous is the Sears catalog. Starting in 1888, Sears, Roebuck and Co. has sold an amazing array of items, from coal stoves to video games, power tools to ready-to-assemble homes. Yes, homes!

In 1862, Dakota Territory passed a law prohibiting food and drug adulteration. By 1885, a territory-wide board of health had been created. But public health was still lacking.

Some of us are old enough to remember making little paper baskets, filling them with candy, placing them on doorsteps, ringing the doorbell, and running away to avoid being kissed on May 1. Another local tradition was the annual May Day festival at Wahpeton Indian School.

Twenty-four people were injured and one man died in a train derailment on this date in 1887 near Sterling, in Dakota Territory.

On this day in 1990, the Fargo Forum ran a profile on the pastor of Bethel Evangelical Free Church in Fargo, not for his ministry, but for his work two decades earlier as a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter.

Originating in Chicago in 1914, the movement known as “Baby Week” sought to raise awareness of the high infant mortality rate in the U.S. and to educate young mothers and girls about early childcare. Researchers from the Children’s Bureau estimated the infant mortality rate in the U.S. at nearly one in ten in the 1910s. National attention fastened on the issue, and Baby Week was born.

On this date in 1952, the public was invited to a tree planting ceremony on the state capitol grounds at Bismarck. The Washington, DC Evening Star reported that North Dakotans were dedicating a tree by the Senate entrance to mark the 50th anniversary of the National Reclamation Law sponsored by Senator Henry Hansbrough. Members of the North Dakota congressional delegation and their staff participated in the ceremony.

On this date in 1908, newspapers published a proclamation by North Dakota Governor John Burk, establishing an annual Arbor Day celebration.

A sundog is an optical phenomenon well known in North Dakota. It often appears as a rainbow-like spot on each side of the sun. When especially bright, sundogs can look like extra suns flanking the real one, sometimes connected by a glowing halo. In rare cases, a third bright spot appears above the sun. Sundogs form in extremely cold weather, when sunlight bends as it passes through ice crystals in the atmosphere, creating bright spots and halos.

Local organizations and clubs often invite distinguished guests to share information and provide programming. Bismarck’s Rotary Club hosted such a guest at its April 22, 1936, noon lunch, when North Dakota’s Department Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Philo George Harrington, spoke on the Spanish-American War.

In February of 1898, Mrs. Ina Cooks of Detroit, Michigan, came to Wahpeton. Her purpose was to establish the 90-day residency required for divorce in North Dakota. She rented rooms and lived quietly until the court proceedings in June.

The North Dakota economy faced serious challenges during the 1920s. The state relied heavily on agriculture, which had boomed during World War I. But when the war ended, demand dropped suddenly and dramatically. Many farmers had invested in new equipment during the boom years, only to see their income fall as European agriculture recovered. As markets for North Dakota’s crops shrank, farm foreclosures increased. Farmers who had borrowed against their land to expand now found those debts coming due.

Henry Stahl sank a well near his home in Williston. It took him several weeks to dig down twenty-four feet and install a pump. He thought nothing of it, his only goal was to have a convenient source of water. But it turned into something more.

In 1947, Bernard Baruch was a multimillionaire financier who advised presidents from Woodrow Wilson to Harry S. Truman. On this date in 1947, he gave a speech to the South Carolina House of Representatives. During that speech, Baruch introduced a new term into the American consciousness when he said, “Let us not be deceived. We are today in the midst of a Cold War.”

The day known as Tax Day is the deadline for American taxpayers to file an income tax return for the previous year. It falls on April 15 most years. If the fifteenth lands on a weekend or holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. But it was not always that way.

Robert “Bob” Bain was born in Minnesota and worked as an insurance agent for 38 years. Beyond his career, he played a major role in developing Bismarck: he promoted hockey, served on the City Park Board and City Commission, and volunteered with the United Way.

On this date in 1920, police in Fargo arrested Ed Letofsky for selling illegal liquor. Claiming he sold only to “accommodating friends,” Letofsky was sentenced to ten months in prison for marketing his homemade raisin whisky. His operation was based in his own house, and the still in his basement was so large that officers had to call back to the station for help removing it. After his arrest, Letofsky quickly confessed and even explained to the court how he produced and sold the liquor.

After a March 1966 blizzard that left a whopping 38 inches of snow in northeast North Dakota, the spring thaw that followed created a whole new set of challenges for North Dakotans: protecting their buildings and homes from rising river levels and flooding.

During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln’s attention was understandably focused on the conflict. The government’s focus was diverted from issues affecting the American West. Tensions between Plains tribes and settlers were allowed to escalate, as there were no resources to spare. The U.S.-Dakota War was sparked by competition for land and resources, resulting in loss of life on both sides and the dislocation of the Dakota.

Prairie fires were common across North Dakota. They were most dangerous during the hot, dry summer and fall seasons. Dry prairie grass provided an ideal source of fuel for these widespread fires. Prairie fires occurred regularly and caused extensive damage to buildings and fields of crops. They were a natural but dangerous, characteristic of the ecosystem before the introduction of manmade features like roads and buildings.

Kate Richards O’Hare was an American activist and longtime member of the Socialist Party of America. She championed reforms in favor of the working class and gave speeches across the country. Her speaking schedule became more intense when the United States entered World War I. She was staunchly against the war and insisted it only benefited wealthy businessmen. She continued to promote reforms to lift up the working class. But it was a speech she gave in Bowman, North Dakota, on July 17, 1917, that got her into trouble.

The first successful airplane flight in North Dakota took place at the Fargo fairgrounds in 1911. North Dakotans were instantly enchanted with the marvelous aviators in their flying machines and embraced aviation with enthusiasm. There was no looking back. North Dakota aviators like Carl Ben Eielson, Florence Kilingensmith, and Oscar Westover have gone down in aviation history.