Sarah Walker

Near the end of 1909, Republican US Senator Martin Johnson of North Dakota suddenly passed away. Governor Burke, a Democrat, soon appointed state senator Fountain L. Thompson as interim senator, pending a special election.

Baseball, America’s sport, was everywhere in earlier years, dotting local newspapers as professional and amateur teams played throughout the year. On this date in 1876, the National League was established at a meeting in New York, and it remains the oldest major-league professional baseball organization in the United States.

The International Association for Identification is the oldest and largest forensic association in the world. It was formed in 1915 as the International Association for Criminal Identification, after Inspector Harry H. Caldwell of Oakland, California’s Police Department reached out to a number of fellow Criminal Identification Operators. About 22 men met in October that year with Caldwell serving as the presiding officer.

Robert Burns, the national bard of Scotland, was born into a poor farming family in Ayrshire and died in debt, young, at age 37. He was a poet and song-writer, though apparently in life he could not hold a tune. He had a multitude of affairs, and fathered many children. He also penned many songs that are still known, beloved, and celebrated today—including the song “Auld Lang Syne.”

J. P. Reeve first came to North Dakota in 1905 and settled near Beach. He believed in “mixed farming," and reportedly raised the largest crop in the county in 1906. He also had a large number of pigs and livestock. In December 1913, Reeve started up a sausage business. His J. P. Brand, also known as “Just Pig” Sausage, caught North Dakota by storm.

In 1928, a literal bang welcomed in the new year in Bismarck, albeit a little more than a week late. A sharp early morning explosion at the Bismarck Fur Company was followed by a fire. The business on 5th Street was on the ground floor of the Annex Hotel building. While the fire was not expected to spread beyond the store, more than 50 people were forced to flee to the streets in the wee hours hours due to the heavy smoke filling their rooms.

Coal was an important commodity in early North Dakota, a resource that could promote the state. This worked out well for General W. D. Washburn, a former US Senator and a surveyor-General from Minnesota. In 1898, Washburn had purchased a chunk of land to promote settlement and develop any resources. It turned out that the land had huge coal deposits, and Washburn would come to own several coal mines in central North Dakota.

On this date in 1923, a strong holiday spirit prevailed in the city of Bismarck as residents made ready for the holiday. The shops in downtown Bismarck had thrummed with activity throughout the season. On this date, a Community Christmas event was set to start, with trumpeters stationed around the city, "adding a touch of the old-time method of observing Christmas, and calling the people to the community gathering."

In 1914, Germany declared war on France, and then invaded Belgium to avoid the French fortifications along their shared border. Belgium was neutral, and the invasion by Germany violated the Treaty of London. Belgium would remain occupied by Germany until the Armistice in 1918.

On this date in 1905, fire destroyed the Grand Central Hotel in Valley City. It was believed to have started in the heating system, though the owner of the hotel, Pat McNulty, couldn’t determine the source as smoke began to fill the building. For several hours the smoke continued to build, then finally the place erupted into flames around 2pm. The newspaper said the blaze “proved a very hard proposition for the [fire] department to handle,” as the smoke was just too dense. It also affected a connected novelty store. At one point the firemen thought they had the fire under control, but it broke out again, stopping only after destroying seventy-five feet of property along Main Street, causing thousands of dollars of damage.