America’s bicentennial year of 1976 brought celebrations across the country. The year was doubly special for Mohall, North Dakota. Residents on this date in 1976 were in the middle of a weeklong celebration of the town’s 75th anniversary, the diamond jubilee. The schedule of events included a musical history in front of 1,000 people at the high school auditorium. Tickets were $2 for adults and $1 for children.
The history of Mohall is forever tied to M. O. Hall, who helped establish the townsite in 1901. But he realized something was missing if the town were to grow: a newspaper. He and several neighbors hauled a printing press and supplies from nearby Kenmare. Hall built a newspaper office and store, and just after Christmas 1901, the first edition of The Hall News published. The paper had 300 paying subscribers after three months. Two years later the Rowell Newspaper Directory of the City of New York awarded the Honor Medal to the newspaper for its “phenomenal growth.” The Hall News had 1,800 subscribers at that point. And its building was more than just a newspaper office. It became a headquarters of sorts for the development of Mohall, housing a bank, land office, boardinghouse, post office and other functions. A schoolroom was on the building’s second floor.
The town was named Mohall because postal authorities rejected Hall because there was already a Hull, North Dakota. So Mr. Hall just added his initials to the post office application to make “Mohall.”
There were some interesting milestones during Mohall’s early years. Hall’s wife drove in the golden spike that marked the arrival of railroad service to town in 1903. And in 1910, Mohall scored a notable victory in winning the designation of Renville County seat after North Dakota’s Supreme Court settled the political drama over the division of Ward County. The campaign for county seat had been bitter. Five towns competed, including Sherwood and Tolley, but Mohall won with a plurality of 619 votes out of 1,826 cast. Fifteen hundred people attended a celebration of the victory with a dinner and dance.
But Mohall leaders considered the town’s single greatest achievement in its first 75 years to be the establishment of the Renville Bottineau Memorial Hospital in 1952.
But it wasn’t all roses in those early years. Some businesses burned down, and there were crop failures in the 1910s. All three of Mohall’s banks closed. And during the Great Depression, the aquifer feeding the city wells went dry, leading to a water shortage for years before a new source was found miles from town.
As of the 2010 census, the population stood at 783 souls.
Dakota Datebook by Jack Dura
Sources:
American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. (1976). Comprehensive calendar of bicentennial events.
Commemorating Mohall’s 75th anniversary: July 6-12, 1976, Mohall Diamond Jubilee Committee, 1976.
