Separate votes by the North Dakota House and Senate on Saturday, May 2, 2009 during the final hours of the 61st legislative session approved the $51.7 million expansion project for the North Dakota Heritage Center. The votes were 70-19 in the House and 45-1 in the Senate.
Enoch Thorsgard, a lifelong Northwood farmer who served in the North Dakota House of Representatives from 1969 to 1980, has been a supporter of the North Dakota Heritage Center for nearly 40 years. He championed the building of the Heritage Center as a Republican member of the House Appropriations Committee, and today at 91 years of age, he supports its expansion.
A full house gathered for the Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing Thursday morning, March 5, on the North Dakota Heritage Center expansion bill. The hearing started 15 minutes early and adjourned at noon. A diverse assortment of perspectives about the project and the need for the facility were presented.
An editorial by Ken Rogers of The Bismarck Tribune: Change has come to the wheat fields, two-lane highways and rolling pastures of North Dakota...
Bismarck-Mandan native Kirk Lanterman, now of Seattle, Washington, the chairman emeritus of the Holland America Cruise Line, visited the State Capitol during a visit to the area on January 29. Kirk and Janet Lanterman have given $500,000 to support the expansion of the North Dakota Heritage Center, and its “Settlement Era Exhibit” in the Inspiration, Opportunities and Innovation Gallery.
The North Dakota Heritage Center would become a "beacon on the prairie" and the "Smithsonian of the Plains" if it's expanded, supporters told a House committee Monday. The $30 million first phase of a 97,000 squarer-foot addition would be fronted by the Northern Lights Atrium, a large glass cube facing east toward the State Street entrance to the Capitol Grounds. If backers get the hoped-for appropriation from the Legislature, it would open in 2014, the state's 125th birthday.
Members of the State Historical Society urged lawmakers Monday to support a bill that would provide $30 million for an expansion of the state Heritage Center. Lawmakers on the Education and Environment Division of the House Appropriations Committee heard testimony on a bill modeled on the governor's budget that includes $18 million in state funds and $12 million in private donations to pay for the expansion.
Bismarck Tribune Editorial: The North Dakota Heritage Center should be taken to the next level. The plan has been set out. A "Smithsonian on the Prairie" would be created by adding a 97,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art addition to the North Dakota Heritage Center, in time for the 125th anniversary of statehood in 2014. It would cost $52.4 million.
On December 3, Governor John Hoeven authorized $30 million for the expansion of the North Dakota Heritage Center. In his 2009-11 Budget Recommendation the Governor provided for $18 million for the project from the general fund and $12 million from special funds to be raised by the agency, for construction of an addition to the Heritage Center.
Efforts to enhance the interpretation of North Dakota's history are receiving a roaring boost from North Dakota's Lions Clubs. On October 30, the delegates to the 2008 State Lions Convention passed a resolution to support the expansion of the North Dakota Heritage Center.