4/23/2005:
The Jewish observance of Passover begins today at sundown. During early migrations of Jewish settlers into ND, most special celebrations were celebrated in farm homes. Rabbi Julius Hess often traveled from Ashley to provide services and instruction for Judaic immigrants northeast of Bismarck. Residents of Wing planned to build a synagogue in 1915, but it didn’t happen.
The Jews who settled this region arrived with NP railroad construction crews around 1910. Along with Jewish merchants, they were among the original founders of both Wing and Regan. The first store, meat market, shoe shop and harness shop in Wing had Jewish proprietors, as did the first cream station in Regan. Even the first baby born in Wing was Jewish.
Source: William C. Sherman et al, Plains Folk: North Dakota’s Ethnic History
Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm