Since the outbreak of COVID-19, it has been normal for people from kindergarten through college to take their classes online. However, North Dakota has a long history of providing internet education. On this date in 1999, the Bismarck Tribune announced the news that Bismarck State College had over 300 students taking classes online. This was incredible considering the college had only had a website for four years.

In August 1887, ground was broken in Devils Lake for a new courthouse and jail. The courthouse had caused some initial angst among some residents, although the Devils Lake Inter-Ocean calmly stated that some of this came from “the first mistake of the [county] board,” which was that it “tried to please everybody.” Completion was planned for December, but it was soon extended to February 1, 1888. Of course construction plans change—especially when working in the winter!

On this date in 1925, the 1926 Dacotah yearbook of the University of North Dakota was dedicated to Dr. Orin Grant Libby. UND's student newspaper, the Dakota Student, called him “one of the prominent Indian authorities of the Northwest."

On this date in 1910, Charles Moline told Sheriff Erickson what had happened to his father. Charles explained that elder Moline had been in the town of Barton and was intoxicated. As Charles drove his father back to the farm in a sleigh, he gave him a bottle of whiskey laced with strychnine. As the poison took effect, his father got out of the sleigh and collapsed in the snow.

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.

This week in 1913, students at the University of North Dakota were writing their final exams for the fall semester of 1912. Some of these classes were offered by the Sociology Department.

On this date in 1992, the front page of the Bismarck Tribune featured a spunky 11-year-old who used advice from the TV show “Rescue 911” to save three lives. Kristin Erck was walking home from school in Bismarck when she heard someone yell “Help me! Help me!” Kristin saw smoke billowing out of a nearby mobile home. Inspired by her favorite TV show, Kristin looked for a passing motorist to ask for help. Seeing none, she ran into the home and found three-year-old Jessie Kuntz in the kitchen near flames. Kristin led the little boy outside and then ran to a neighboring home and pounded on the door. This was the home of Patty Flanigan, 25, a fry cook at McDonalds.

As the United States expanded across the Mississippi River, mail delivery proved to be a challenge. Mail carried by stagecoach or steamship took over a month to get to California. For a time, there was the Pony Express, which boasted famous riders like Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickock, that could carry mail from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California in only ten days. A lesser-known Pony Express route traversed Dakota Territory, but the first winter put an end to it. The southern route didn't last much longer, running from April, 1860 to October, 1861.

This week in 1924 the nation was awakened to the shocking news that former President Woodrow Wilson had died. The banner headline in the Fargo Forum included “Death ends career of noted American.”

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.