Dakota Datebook

Historian Frederick Jackson Turner came to Chicago not for the World’s Fair like thousands of other people, but for the annual conference of the American Historical Association. On this date in 1893, Turner put the finishing touches on his Frontier Thesis, a speech he would give to the conference the following evening. Turner argued that the settlement of the American frontier was the foundation of a uniquely American culture.

On this date in 1919, a front-page article in the Bismarck Tribune explained how the newspaper scored a scoop and obtained a photograph of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, calling it “the most remarkable achievement of modern journalism.”

On this date in 1969, as many North Dakotans were sound asleep, a severe storm ripped through Ramsey county. Approximately six miles wide and nine miles long, the storm’s path of damage started in the Webster area and moved southeast. Hailstones the size of hens eggs ripped through farms, with damage to buildings, equipment, and crops.

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll listen to Dennis Fox, Jr., enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation in, "We Are Honored and So We Give."

After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, Colonel Clement Lounsberry moved west. He entered journalism as a writer for the Minneapolis Tribune, but he had something else in mind - establishing a newspaper wherever the Northern Pacific Railroad crossed the Missouri River. That plan became a reality in 1873 when the first issue of the Bismarck Tribune came off the presses.

North Dakota has a lively history of local Independence Day celebrations. Here is a sampling of the Fourth of July from way back when.

The Wild West was not nearly as wild as it is portrayed in books, movies, and television. Life on the frontier was hard work, and that in turn created a need for entertainment, and there was no shortage of ways for people to spend their time and money.

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll listen to Dennis Fox, Jr. Enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation, discuss identity crisis.

Alf Paulson had the great adventure of his life in 1945.

On this date in 1966, Bismarck Tribune readers learned of the latest addition to the Peace Garden: a large clock gifted from the Bulova Watch Company. But not just any clock – its face is made of flowers.