Sitting Bull to Phil Jackson, cattle to prairie dogs, knoephla to lefse. North Dakota's legacy includes many strange stories of eccentric towns, war heroes, and various colorful characters. Hear all about them on Dakota Datebook, your daily dose of North Dakota history.
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Dakota Datebook is made in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota, and funded by Humanities North Dakota, a nonprofit, independent state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities North Dakota or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
You can find all Dakota Datebooks from 2018-today below. Our archive of Datebooks from 2003-2017 can be found here.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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Twenty-four people were injured and one man died in a train derailment on this date in 1887 near Sterling, in Dakota Territory.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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On this date in 1908, newspapers published a proclamation by North Dakota Governor John Burk, establishing an annual Arbor Day celebration.
Dakota Datebook is made in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota, and funded by Humanities North Dakota, a nonprofit, independent state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities North Dakota or the National Endowment for the Humanities.