Dakota Datebook

Lisbon, located in the beautiful Sheyenne River Valley of southeastern North Dakota, is home to a historic post office building built in 1939. Within that history is the story of a lost sculpture.

In the early morning of Sunday, December 28th, 1930, the North Dakota State Capitol building burned down. People capture this historic and momentous event on film and in photos. Newspapers across the state reported on it.

The University of North Dakota's 1912 Dacotah yearbook reported that president Edward Robertson of Wesley College envisioned Sayre Hall, the men’s dormitory, as a place “where tossing, stretching, room stacking, and other relics of barbarism intended to strike terror into freshmen … would have no place, for the founder had high ideals.” The yearbook continued, “The knowing ones shook their heads and murmured: ‘Wait and see, time will tell.’”

Beginning in a field near Wing, Apple Creek meanders 65 miles before flowing into the Missouri River near the University of Mary in Bismarck. In 1885, residents considered the creek a recreational spot, although it could often be dangerous. Some declared that crossing the Apple Creek bridge after dark, or with a shy team of horses by daylight could be perilous. Others called the bridge “inadequate and insufficient” because it was too narrow for farm machinery.

In June 1917, fourteen steamships and three Navy transports gathered in New York Harbor. They were accompanied by four cruisers, thirteen destroyers, two armed yachts, and two fuel tankers. By the end of the month, the flotilla had reached France, delivering fourteen thousand fresh American troops to join the Allied forces in World War I.

Ever since the establishment of the Minot Air Force Base and the Grand Forks Air Force Base in 1957, North Dakota has been considered a potential target for enemy nuclear weapons. This knowledge created anxiety among some of North Dakota’s citizens. One response has been to build fallout shelters in backyards or basements.

On this date in 1971, the University of North Dakota's student newspaper, the Dakota Student, announced an upcoming visit by Congressman Arthur Link to UND. He represented North Dakota's western district at a time when North Dakota had two congressional districts.

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll hear from Kevin Locke, enrolled member of the Standing Rock Nation, in part three of Hinhan Kaga and the Milky Way.

Frank O’Brien was born in 1892 in Fargo. At 18, he began working at the Fargo Mercantile Company, a wholesale grocer. Like many young men of his time, Frank was drafted after the United States declared war on Germany in 1917. He was among the first draftees from Fargo and was inducted in September 1917. After arriving at Camp Dodge, Iowa, Frank wrote a letter to his former colleagues at the Fargo Mercantile Company, describing his training as a member of an infantry supply company.

On this date in 1957, newspapers across the country reported on Louis Armstrong's recent remarks during an appearance at Grand Forks Central High School, where he expressed outrage over the crisis at Little Rock High School.