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2/17/2015: If you were listening yesterday, you heard about the dire winter weather conditions that the Williams County area suffered in the first few months of 1936. Paths of communication were cut as telephone lines fell, roads were blocked by snow, and temperatures dropped to new record lows. It was one of the worst winters ever in Williston. Business and travel slowed. Foremen laid off WPA workers who did not have the clothing to stand out in the cold.

2/26/2015: As the United States entered World War II, everyone on the home front was called upon to help. The Schools at War program was organized on September 25, 1942, by the War Savings Staff of the Treasury Department and the U.S. Office of Education. The program was set up to garner the interest and participation of students in public and private schools, grades kindergarten through 12th. Students were asked to save, serve and conserve – by giving money through the purchase of war stamps and bonds, conserving money and materials for the war effort, and by saving for personal security.

3/2/2015: Once, the most prolific writer in the Norwegian language lived in North Dakota. He was Jon Norstog [norՙ-stogg], born in Telemark [tehՙ-leh-mark], Norway, in 1877. He disliked farm work, and would rather hunt, dream and write. At a church academy Jon deepened his faith and learned the common idiomatic language of Norway, while also mastering the official Standard Language, which was more Danish than Norwegian. Jon Norstog preferred to write in the idiomatic language, a practice that smothered his career in Norway.

3/4/2015: A traveling hypnotist came to Grand Forks in March of 1897 and mesmerized his audiences night after night in seven performances. The hypnotist, known as the “Great McEwen” or as “Professor McEwen,” had a wonderful stage show in which he entertained large audiences with startling feats of mind control and suggestion, all done with care and good humor towards the subjects who volunteered.

3/9/2015: The entire economic system of the United States began to break down following the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Unemployment swept across the nation, and North Dakota suffered even more than most of the country because of a devastating drought. Production was down and so were prices. In 1933, the per capita personal income in the United States was $375. But in North Dakota, it was only $145. Thousands lost their farms. There was a mass migration out of the state. Over one third of the remaining population lived on relief.

3/13/2015: On this date in 1909, residents of Grand Forks lamented the loss of the Bijou Theater. A fire had occurred the night before, just after the box office opened to sell tickets for the evening performances. The Bijou, owned and operated by Mrs. R. Feldkirchner, had a lot of patronage, so it was lucky that it occurred before the building became crowded. The fire stemmed from the explosion of a heater in the basement dressing rooms. The flames shot upward, burning through the stage.

3/18/2015: In the fall of 1914, Ray Crandall ran away from everything he knew to seek the adventure of his life. Twenty-one years old, Crandall was a farmhand threshing wheat near New Salem when he seemingly disappeared. Ray’s father, Mr. H.A. Crandall, who had a farm a mile north of Zap in Mercer County, had no word from his son and began a long search. Half a year passed before the story of the mysterious disappearance finally became known to Ray’s father.

3/19/2015: Many towns throughout the new state of North Dakota had National Guard units. But by 1898, the Grand Forks unit had disbanded. The Grand Forks Herald noted that at one time the Grand Forks militia was a first-class company in the forefront of the North Dakota National Guard. The primary reason for disbanding was the lack of a suitable armory. There was no place for the militia to meet and drill. The Herald said this was “much to the regret of every citizen who took pride in the fine company….”

3/20/2015: The North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, originally in operation under the name State Scientific School, has its beginnings around 1903. Today, it is one of the oldest public two-year colleges in the United States.

4/2/2015: Tyler Smith was born in April of 2002. He was diagnosed with autism a few months shy of his second birthday. Luckily he was in the caring hands of his mother, Sandy Smith, and his sister, Darcy Kasprowicz. Sandy’s insurance would cover the therapy needed, but trying to find that therapy was difficult. In December of 2004 his sister Darcy put her career on hold to open a home daycare for Tyler.