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In this Dakota Diners feature, Tom Brosseau visits the Medina Café in Medina, North Dakota, and talks with a fellow diner about the necessity of cafés in small communities.

11/11/2014: Vernon Ellingson was born in Bismarck on October 8, 1912. By the time he was a year old, his family had moved to Grand Forks. In 1923, Vernon’s father Adolph ordered a Sears Roebuck house plan and built the home of his dreams. The family had to live for a time in the garage while the house was built – a house that still stands today.

11/14/2014: Robert Fulton was born on this date in 1765 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, far from North Dakota and well before Lewis and Clark ventured west and even before the United States acquired what would become North Dakota in the Louisiana Purchase.

11/20/2014: Clinton J. Hill was born in Larimore, North Dakota. He went to high school in Washburn and went on to graduate from Concordia College. He joined the Army in 1954 and became a counterintelligence special agent. In 1957 he left the Army and joined the Secret Service. In 1958, he was assigned to President Eisenhower’s detail. After John Kennedy was elected, Hill was excited to learn that he would be staying on at the White House. He admitted he was disappointed when assigned to protect the First Lady instead of the President, but he came to admire her and enjoyed working for her. He was promoted, and put in charge of other agents who also protected her.

11/24/2014: When settlers ventured onto the Great Plains, they often had to find new ways of doing things. One was fencing. Out east, or in Europe, fences had typically been made of rocks or wood, which were readily available, but out on the Great Plains, settlers found a land with few trees. Even stones were often rare.

11/27/2014: On this date in 1922, Lord Caernarvon and Howard Carter opened an ancient tomb. Their discovery of King Tut’s Tomb was the sensation of the year, featured on the front page of newspapers and in newsreels at movie theaters. An Egyptian craze swept the country.

Episode 38 features Valley City-based musician Preston Schlegel; Seattle musician Lotte Kestner; Utah band Whiskey’s Wake; and a Dakota Diners visit to Medina Café in Medina, North Dakota.

12/11/2014: On this date in 1719, the Northern Lights were first reported in North America. Also called the aurora borealis, they are named for Aurora, the Roman goddess of dawn, and Boreas, the Greek name for the north wind. Galileo named the phenomenon in 1619.

12/16/2014: World events affecting oil prices can have quite an impact on North Dakota’s oil industry. On this date in 1979, Libya joined four other OPEC nations in raising the price of oil. That act had political, social, and economic consequences that continue to be felt today. In 1979, the United States was largely dependent on foreign oil. At the same time, domestic energy consumption was rapidly increasing.

12/26/2014: After a fire destroyed North Dakota's first capitol building on December 28, 1930, a new Capitol was constructed. Completed in 1934, it was a dramatic departure from the style of the old building. Very tall and solitary, the Capitol towered over the burgeoning city of Bismarck, standing 241 feet, 8 inches high. Being built during the Great Depression meant money was tight. Consequently, many exterior embellishments were dropped from the design.