The history of North Dakota is always a fascinating subject for me. Within a span of just months sometimes, parts of the state went from wild prairie land full of native tribes to booming towns that popped up as the railroad spread across the state. Eventually, many of those railroad towns died down and fell into obscurity. Others went on to become the cities and towns we know today. I did some digging to find some pretty awesome photographs of places in North Dakota from as far back as when it was still just one big Dakota Territory in the late 1800s, spanning all the way up to the late 1930s.
Some of these photographs are shown as two of the same image side by side. That is because they were made for use in a stereoscope, which was basically the View-Master before the View-Master. The two images would appear to merge into one 3D image when viewed on a special device.
Without further ado, let’s travel through time….
- This is what our capital city looked like back in the late 1800s - before it was the capital.
F. Jay Haynes/The New York Public Library The main street of Bismarck is busy and bustling here. Covered wagons were still the main mode of transportation, and the state was still merged with our southern neighbor to form one big D.T., otherwise known as the Dakota Territory.
- Another main street from years past… can you guess which one?
Russell Lee/yale.edu If you guessed Williston, you guessed right! This was taken in 1940. Covered wagons weren’t quite all the rage anymore as cars had already had their big debut a couple of decades earlier.
- The railroad helped build this state up to where it is today. Here, a train passes through Fargo.
F. Jay Haynes/The New York Public Library Can you believe this is what Fargo used to look back in the late 1800s? The Northern Pacific railroad had a lot to do with North Dakota’s entire history. The railroad is still a very important part of North Dakota today, transporting crops, coal, and oil produced throughout the state.
- Here are some advertisements by a bridge going over the Little Missouri River near Medora.
Arthur Rothstein/yale.edu I wish we still had round billboards! How much cooler would those be instead of all the same rectangles from today? Saddle horses, petrified forest tours, and an advertisement for the Rough Riders Hotel are shown. Medora was already a large tourist destination in the state.
- Another main street test - do you know where this is?
John Vachon/yale.edu And the answer is…Grand Forks! This is how the main street looked back in 1940. It definitely has a bustling city vibe, even back then. It had a population of about 20,000 at the time this photo was taken. Today, that number is around 56,000.
- This trading post used to stand in Ft. Berthold.
F. Jay Haynes/The New York Public Library In the state’s earliest days, trading was a big deal. Before the land was widely tamed for agriculture, many travelers came here to hunt and trade their goods - mostly furs and hides. Both Native Americans and the European immigrants heading out to settle the land exchanged many different items here.
- This impressive hotel once rose above the rest of the buildings in Rolla, ND.
John Vachon/yale.edu This hotel was known as Hotel Vendome and has been gone for years now. The picture was taken in 1940 but the hotel itself dates back to a bit earlier than that.
- Jamestown in its earliest days, before it was even considered a city at all.
F. Jay Haynes/The New York Public Library This little sprawled out settlement would eventually become what we know as Jamestown today, over a hundred years later. At the time this photo was taken, there was about 400 people in the area. That jumped to 2,000 within the next decade, and eventually rose to 15,000 residents today. Isn’t it amazing how far this state has come and changed?
- This old fashioned merry-go-round used to be in Towner, ND.
Russell Lee/yale.edu One of the most classic fair attractions - which have been made since as early as the late 17th century - that was in Towner as shown in this photo from 1937.
- A bit more modest is this merry-go-round made by some children in Williams County.
Russell Lee/yale.edu Instead of fancy carved wooden horses and mirrors, this one was made with an old wagon wheel and a post, but it was still just as fun for these three children who lived on a farm in Williams County.
From prairies to now, this is just a small snippet of how the state has evolved until today where it continues to shift and grow.
F. Jay Haynes/The New York Public Library
The main street of Bismarck is busy and bustling here. Covered wagons were still the main mode of transportation, and the state was still merged with our southern neighbor to form one big D.T., otherwise known as the Dakota Territory.
Russell Lee/yale.edu
If you guessed Williston, you guessed right! This was taken in 1940. Covered wagons weren’t quite all the rage anymore as cars had already had their big debut a couple of decades earlier.
Can you believe this is what Fargo used to look back in the late 1800s? The Northern Pacific railroad had a lot to do with North Dakota’s entire history. The railroad is still a very important part of North Dakota today, transporting crops, coal, and oil produced throughout the state.
Arthur Rothstein/yale.edu
I wish we still had round billboards! How much cooler would those be instead of all the same rectangles from today? Saddle horses, petrified forest tours, and an advertisement for the Rough Riders Hotel are shown. Medora was already a large tourist destination in the state.
John Vachon/yale.edu
And the answer is…Grand Forks! This is how the main street looked back in 1940. It definitely has a bustling city vibe, even back then. It had a population of about 20,000 at the time this photo was taken. Today, that number is around 56,000.
In the state’s earliest days, trading was a big deal. Before the land was widely tamed for agriculture, many travelers came here to hunt and trade their goods - mostly furs and hides. Both Native Americans and the European immigrants heading out to settle the land exchanged many different items here.
This hotel was known as Hotel Vendome and has been gone for years now. The picture was taken in 1940 but the hotel itself dates back to a bit earlier than that.
This little sprawled out settlement would eventually become what we know as Jamestown today, over a hundred years later. At the time this photo was taken, there was about 400 people in the area. That jumped to 2,000 within the next decade, and eventually rose to 15,000 residents today. Isn’t it amazing how far this state has come and changed?
One of the most classic fair attractions - which have been made since as early as the late 17th century - that was in Towner as shown in this photo from 1937.
Instead of fancy carved wooden horses and mirrors, this one was made with an old wagon wheel and a post, but it was still just as fun for these three children who lived on a farm in Williams County.
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