Today in North Dakota History

July 14, 1927

Harold H. Bond succeeded Frank D. Hall as superintendent of the North Dakota Children's Home (now Children's Village, Fargo). When Bond retired in 1951, his 24 years of service equaled those of his predecessors.

July 14, 1849

Led by Major Samuel Woods, an expedition to purchase the Red River Valley from the Indians entered what now is North Dakota at a site which later became Fort Abercrombie.

July 14, 1867

The Rev. Abel B. Conger became the first settler in the Devils Lake area.

July 14, 1932

The cairn at the International Peace Garden was dedicated before a crowd of about 50,000. The cairn, built of native stones gathered from both sides of the international border, rests on the soil of both the United States and Canada.

July 15, 1831

The steamer "Yellowstone" completed the first successful voyage on the Upper Missouri by reaching St. Louis on a return voyage from Fort Union, in what now is North Dakota, carrying a full cargo of buffalo roves, furs, peltries and 10,000 pounds of buffalo tongues.

July 15, 1902

The Great Northern Depot at Thompson was blown down and buildings at Emerado were damaged in a severe windstorm.

July 15, 1935

Voters affirmed a 2 percent North Dakota sales tax law in a special referendum election.

July 15, 1941

Devils Lake voters approved, by a vote of 730 to 17, establishment of a junior college, now known as Lake Region Junior College.

July 15, 1942

R.A. Nestos, governor of North Dakota from 1921-24, died in Minot at 65.

July 16, 1887

Minot was incorporated as a city, less than a year after the townsite was platted on land on which Erik Ramstad had settled by squatter's rights after going west from Grafton in May 1885.

July 16, 1873

The first commission of Burleigh County met and appointed county officials.

July 16, 1878

A post office was established at a settlement later named Mandan.

July 16, 1895

Formal orders were issued for the abandonment of Fort Pembina the following month, partly as a result of a fire that destroyed troop barracks at the fort.

July 16, 1913

The cornerstone for the new Grand Forks County Courthouse was laid.

July 16, 1961

The first B52 bomber, named the "Peace Persuader," arrived at Minot Air Force Base.

July 17, 1963

Voters of North Dakota defeated five new tax laws in a lopsided referendum.

July 17, 1867

Fort Totten was established by General Alfred H. Terry on the southern shores of Devils Lake. Guiding army troops to the site was the frontiersman Pierre Bottineau. The garrison was withdrawn from the fort in 1890.

July 17, 1873

The Dakota Territory settlement of Edwinton officially was renamed Bismarck.

July 17, 1934

Governor William H. Langer was removed from office after conviction, later reversed, on a federal conspiracy charge.

July 17, 1934

Governor William H. Langer was removed from office after conviction, later reversed, on a federal conspiracy charge.

July 18, 1870

Sanford Cady qualified as postmaster at Grand Forks, naming the settlement the English translation of the French "La Grandes Fourche."

July 18, 1863

Congressman Hjalmar Nygaard of North Dakota died in Washington, D.C., at 57 after being stricken while on the floor of the House.

July 18, 1891

Fargo and Grand Forks baseball teams, playing at Devils lake, played 25 innings without either team scoring a run. Years later this was cited as a world's record for a scoreless game.

July 18, 1934

North Dakota Supreme Court held Governor William Langer disqualified for office. Ole Olson assumed the office.

July 19, 1875

Charles Oliver Maloney, the first white boy born in the village of Grand Forks, was born to Captain and Mrs. H.E. Maloney.

July 19, 1894

North Dakota Republicans, meeting in Grand Forks, nominated Roger Allin of Walsh County for governor.

July 19, 1934

Lieutenant Governor Ole H. Olson took physical possession of the governor's office of North Dakota, following the ouster by the Supreme Court of Governor William Langer.

July 19, 1815

The first federal treaty with the Sioux, of later significance to North Dakota history, was signed.

July 19, 1881

Sitting Bull and the remnants of his followers came into Fort Buford, near present-day Williston, to surrender. Since the Custer massacre in 1876, the great Sioux leader had been living in Canada with occasional forays into North Dakota and Montana.

July 20, 1897

Carl Ben Eielson, famed polar aviator, was born at Hatton.

July 20, 1907

Two persons were fatally injured and 20 homes were destroyed in Williston in a violent wind storm.

July 20, 1967

The Mandan-Mott branch of the Northern Pacific Railway, re-routed because of the Oahe Reservoir, was dedicated.

July 21, 1965

Financier Chester Fritz, who earlier gave the University of North Dakota $1 million to finance a library named for him, announced a second $1 million gift for a new auditorium at UND.

July 21, 1895

The Grand Forks Trades and Labor Assembly was formally organized by representatives of the city's various labor unions.

July 21, 1919

Grand Forks Post No. 6 of the American Legion was officially chartered by the state and national organizations.

July 21, 1941

A U.S. Highway 2 Association was organized at Devils Lake, with Dr. W. E. Hocking of that city as its first president, by boosters from Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana.

July 21, 1961

John C. West, president of the University of North Dakota from 1933-54, died in Grand Forks.

July 22, 1869

Morgan T. Rich, for whom Richland County is named, made the first settlement at Wahpeton.

July 22, 1891

Fort Abraham Lincoln, south of present-day Mandan, was abandoned as a military post.

July 22, 1965

The U.S. Senate passed and sent to President Lyndon Johnson the law authorizing the Garrison Diversion Reclamation Project in North Dakota.

July 21, 1916

North Dakota National Guardsmen entrained at Bismarck for Mercedes, Texas, and duty in the Mexican Border Campaign.

July 21, 1928

Carl Ben Eielson was given a jubilant homecoming at Hatton following his air trip with Sir Hubert Wilkins over the top of the world to Norway.

July 21, 1932

Prohibition agents raided and seized the biggest illegal still west of Chicago near Jamestown Equipment, costing between $15,000 and $25,000 and capable of producing 1,000 gallons of moonshine a day, which was found on a farm, now inundated by the Jamestown Reservoir.

July 22, 1808

A Sioux attack on Fort Pembina was fought off.

July 22, 1884

Bottineau County was organized. It was named for Pierre Bottineau, an early French-Canadian voyageur who was born in what now is North Dakota.

July 22, 1884

The Fort Rice Military Reservation, south of present day Mandan, was transferred from the War Department to the Department of the Interior.

July 22, 1896

A Republican state nominating convention in Grand Forks nominated Frank A. Briggs of Morton County for governor and re-nominated M.N. Johnson of Nelson County for Congress.

July 23, 1930

Rolette, in the North Dakota county of the same name, was incorporated.

July 24, 1863

In retaliation for the Minnesota Massacre of 1862, an avenging Army under Gen. Henry H. Sibley met and fought the Sioux in the Battle of Big Mound, near present-day Tappen.

July 24, 1874

The Richland County community of Chahinkapa was renamed Wahpeton. The original name now designates one of North Dakota's largest municipal parks.