Sarah Walker

A primary election was held on this date in 1910 in North Dakota, except the date was advertised incorrectly multiple times in Billings County Newspapers.

In recent years, we have grown increasingly aware of “green” terms, reducing carbon footprints, and improving energy efficiency, to the point where many of these environmentally-friendly terms have been added to the dictionary. But progress and energy efficiency have been goals longer than that.

The month of June in North Dakota saw many firemen’s tournaments over the years. These events had a long history beginning in the 1880s. Though they were typically held in June, two Dakota Territory tournaments took place in October of 1884.

11/22/2017: In 1920 on this date, women of the Bismarck area were "doing their part," as the Bismarck Tribune requested, to advertise a new women's rest room.

10/31/2017: It's Halloween, a date to remember the eerie, spooky, or unexplainable. One such story was recalled by James M. Foley in 1915. Around 1889, just before North Dakota became a state, Foley was visiting one of A. C. Huidekoper's horse ranches with its manager, George Woodman. This section of land was eight miles from the Little Missouri in Deep Creek, about 40 miles south of Medora.

10/20/2017: After the original capitol building in Bismarck burned down in a fire on December 30, 1930, the current Capitol, the “Skyscraper of the Prairie,” was planned and built. Constructed during the Great Depression, many of the original plans for extra decoration were reduced or even eliminated.

1/12/2017: In 1910, Mrs. Minnie L. Budge, the Grand Forks postmistress, was ready to vacate her position. She had served as postmistress for the past four years, having replaced her husband, William Budge, who had held the office since 1898.

12/30/2016: In 1909, the North Dakota Educational Association met at the end of December for several sessions over several days in Minot. The temperature was unseasonably warm, and an estimated 500 delegates were expected to attend. Everything was pointing in the right direction for a fulfilling convention.

12/23/2016: In 1915, Williston was a town to watch. Established in 1887 as a station along the Great Northern Railroad tracks, WIlliston was named for Daniel WIllis James, a stockholder of the line and friend of James J. Hill. Williston became a city in 1904. Just over a decade later, the city was undergoing a multitude of improvements. At the beginning of December, an article in the Grand Forks Daily Herald noted that a new record had been set in the city history, with new construction in 1915 valued at more than $100,000.

12/1/2016: This date in 1932 would have been just about ideal for enjoying the inaugural harvest of the new Buttercup Squash developed by the North Dakota Agricultural College in Fargo. The Buttercup was the result of work done by horticulturist Albert F. Yeager, chemist T. H. Hooper, and Constance Leeby and Esther Letzke of the Home Economics Research department. The team had spent the past ten years crossing different types of squash. Their aim was to develop a variety to take the place of the sweet potato, which had hadn’t grown well in the region.