Trista Raezer-Stursa

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, it has been normal for people from kindergarten through college to take their classes online. However, North Dakota has a long history of providing internet education. On this date in 1999, the Bismarck Tribune announced the news that Bismarck State College had over 300 students taking classes online. This was incredible considering the college had only had a website for four years.

On this date in 1992, the front page of the Bismarck Tribune featured a spunky 11-year-old who used advice from the TV show “Rescue 911” to save three lives. Kristin Erck was walking home from school in Bismarck when she heard someone yell “Help me! Help me!” Kristin saw smoke billowing out of a nearby mobile home. Inspired by her favorite TV show, Kristin looked for a passing motorist to ask for help. Seeing none, she ran into the home and found three-year-old Jessie Kuntz in the kitchen near flames. Kristin led the little boy outside and then ran to a neighboring home and pounded on the door. This was the home of Patty Flanigan, 25, a fry cook at McDonalds.

In 1998 the internet was still in its infancy. The World Wide Web had only been available to the public for about five years. Therefore, when Donald Hoffman of Bismarck posted his resume and a photograph on a website called Actor’s World, he didn’t think much would come of it.

On this date in 2000 the Bismarck Tribune announced that some of the best Appaloosa horses in the world could be found in North Dakota. One of the premier horse magazines, Western Horseman, had just published a profile on the Sheldak Ranch, where prize winning Appaloosas were bred. This was the first time the famous magazine had profiled an Appaloosa ranch. The breed was developed by the Nez Perce Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest, and is distinctive for its spots, usually just on the rump.

On this date in 1964 the Bismarck Tribune announced that beloved North Dakota State Librarian Hazel Webster Byrnes was resigning to take a job in California. Born in 1886 in Iowa, she graduated from Iowa State Teachers College in 1910 and earned her Master’s Degree in adult education from Columbia University. She married Frank Lloyd Byrnes in 1912. After working for teachers colleges in Nebraska and Iowa she became the first librarian at Mayville State College in 1924. Her husband farmed in Petersburg.

On this date in 1968 the Bismarck Tribune reported on Dr. Lowell Gess and his family. Lowell, his wife Ruth, and three of their six children had recently moved to Bismarck and were excited to have the remaining children join them by Christmas. Normally such an event would not make the news, but the Gess family was a bit unusual. The family had just moved to North Dakota from Sierra Leone, where Dr. Gess served as a medical missionary.

On this date in 2000, the generous gift of half a million dollars by Roger Haas to the Germans from Russia Heritage Society was announced. Roger had come a long way from being a motherless farm boy who spoke German at home. Now a successful businessman in Portland, Oregon, Roger wanted to give back to the community he came from by honoring his roots.

Living your entire life in a town so small that it was practically a ghost town might bother some, but not Melvin Wisdahl. Born and raised in Corinth in northwestern North Dakota, Melvin still called the tiny town of 15 people home as of this date 1990.

It’s not often a major motion picture set in North Dakota or filmed here, let alone stare Hollywood royalty. On this date in 2000, the Bismarck Tribune reported on the excitement that descended on Medora as the town hosted 150 cast and crew members for the filming of Wooly Boys. It starred Peter Fonda, Kris Kristofferson, and Joseph Mazzello and followed the story of a Badlands sheep rancher and his grandson.

On this date in 1995, The Bismarck Tribune reported about the decay of the Fortuna Air Force Station. From 1951 to 1979 the station was an active radar station in the Air Defense Command that protected the United States from attack. The station was six miles from Canada and eight miles from Montana. The nearest town was Fortuna.