It’s unclear how Selfridge, North Dakota got its name. The little town on the Standing Rock Reservation sprang up in 1911 on a branch of the Milwaukee Road rail line. A few possible reasons are given for its name. One is to denote the ridgeline of hills near town, another is honoring a railroad official, and a third could be the name of an army pilot killed in the early days of military aviation. One early resident of Selfridge recalled his first visit to the town in 1916 when he was greeted by a frigid 30 degrees below zero.
The town is fairly isolated in North Dakota, west of Fort Yates and about 60 miles south of Mandan on the rolling prairie. Sioux tribal members have historically lived in the area.
It’s farming and ranching country, where flax was one of the first crops. Selfridge settlers enjoyed the daily train, sending off letters from the depot. The Selfridge post office opened on this date in 1912, housed in a hotel and restaurant that eventually became a hardware store until the building burned in 1926. Other early businesses included a blacksmith shop, general store, creamery and the Selfridge Journal newspaper, which operated from 1918 to 1979. The first front page carried the headline, “Greetings, we have arrived,” and the article ended by saying “Now everyone get busy and boost for a bigger and better Selfridge.”
Selfridge’s school system grew over the years, from a one-room schoolhouse with 17 students in 1915, to a new brick building with a basement gymnasium in 1926. The class of 1928 was Selfridge’s first graduation – for two students. In 1967, a new one-story school was built.
Selfridge survived drought and the Great Depression. The population peaked in 1960 with 371 people. Today, there’s about 170.
Dakota Datebook by Jack Dura
Sources:
http://history.nd.gov/archives/cities/selfridge.html
Selfridge Alumni Committee. (1981). Memories: All school reunion, Selfridge, N.D. N.p.
Anniversary Book Committee. (1961). Selfridge, North Dakota seventy-five diamond years. N.p.
