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Mandan

  • Bismarck and Mandan residents had a lot to look forward to at the Mandan Fair in 1912. The fair was an important enough event to prompt Bismarck’s public schools to close for Bismarck Day. A ferry operator cut the fee for crossing the Missouri in half during the fair, and special trains were put into service.
  • Anne Frank’s diary became available in public libraries with the publication of an English-language version around this date in 1952. A Bismarck Tribune librarian columnist described the book as “a poignant diary kept by a young Jewish girl hiding out from the Gestapo….”
  • Rose Schneider was born in Nuremburg, Germany, on this date in 1929, and grew up during the chaotic times of World War II. After the war, young Rose served as a court reporter during the Nuremburg trials. She also went to school, training as a nurse. Rose met and fell in love with a young American Army Sergeant serving in Germany, LaMarr Myers.
  • On this date in 1914, the Grand Forks Evening Times carried an intriguing story under the headline "Girl would rather work as a servant than cross the ocean again!" It was about 18-year-old Elfrida Trinkler, who was reportedly a survivor of the great Titanic disaster two years before.
  • On this date in 1914, multiple newspapers reported that Ben Benson, also called Buffalo Head, visited Curator H. C. Fish at the State Historical Society of North Dakota to see a drawing of his father, Iron Eyes, which was on exhibit there.
  • Life was not easy at the Fort Clark fur trading post back in the 1830s. The fort was located on the Missouri river near present-day Washburn and it was a major economic center. The post manager, Francis Chardon, kept a journal, describing the cold weather, the fur trade, tribal activities, and the devastating smallpox epidemic. He also kept a regular tally of how many rats he had killed!
  • North Dakota has welcomed several royal visitors over the years. On this date in 1926, Queen Marie of Romania and her children -- Princess Ileana and Prince Nicholas -- made their way west by train through North Dakota, on a tour of the United States. Queen Marie was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
  • Perhaps the disease outbreak in North Dakota’s history was the smallpox epidemic that all but destroyed the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara peoples. In June of 1837, infected passengers aboard a steamboat spread the deadly virus up and down the Missouri River.
  • The final months of World War I collided with the terrible flu pandemic of 1918. The war facilitated the global spread of the virus, and many service…
  • On this date in 1986, The Bismarck Tribune announced that the biggest sign in the state was going to be moved and reconstructed. In 1934, Boy Scouts used…