2/20/2011:
The seventh regular meeting of the Burleigh County Pioneers Association occurred on this date in 1928. The organization was formed on April 16, 1916 with two hundred members present. The second meeting came a year later, but because of the war, it would not be until 1922 that the next meeting occurred. By 1927 there were over four hundred members, including Capt. J. M. Belk, who first saw the site of what would become Bismarck in 1867. Other notables attending were J. D. Wakeman, Mrs. Dunn, General E. A. Williams, W. A. Falconer, Joe Deitrich and Mrs. Mary McLean. These were pioneers who not only created the City of Bismarck, but were among the many voices who promoted statehood for North Dakota in the 1880s.
Dakota Datebook written by Jim Davis
Source:
The Bismarck Capital February 23, 1928