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North Dakota The Culture
Education
At the time the state was created, in 1889, there were more than 1,000 public schools. In the middle of the 20th century, North Dakota, like many other states, began to consolidate its school districts for greater economy and efficiency, and by 2001 the number of school districts had been reduced to 228. School attendance is compulsory for all children from the age of 7 to 16. About 6 percent of the state’s children attend private schools.
In the 2002–2003 school year North Dakota spent $7,721 on each student’s education, compared to a national average of $9,299. There were 12.7 students for every teacher (the national average was 15.9 students per teacher). Of those older than 25 years of age in 2006, 88.1 percent had a high school diploma, the national norm being 84.1 percent.
Higher Education
North Dakota’s major institutions of higher education are the state-supported University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, and North Dakota State University in Fargo. In 2004–2005 the state had 14 public and 7 private institutions of higher education. They included Dickinson State University, in Dickinson; Jamestown College, in Jamestown; University of Mary , in Bismarck; Mayville State University, in Mayville; Minot State University, in Minot, with a two-year school in Bottineau; and Valley City State University, in Valley City.
Libraries
The first of the state’s public libraries was opened in Grafton in 1897. That same year the superintendent of public instruction established the traveling library system, which for decades rotated books from school to school throughout the state. The state library commission was also established, primarily to serve rural needs. The state has 82 tax-supported library systems. Each year the libraries circulate an average of 7.4 books for every resident. The largest libraries in the state are at the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University. Both have extensive special collections that include Scandinavian and Icelandic literature and materials on North Dakota’s history and politics. The University of North Dakota has a complete set of the original Nuremberg Trial records, which document war crimes committed during World War II (1939-1945) (see War Crimes Trials).
Museums
Two well-known museums are the museum of the State Historical Society at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck, and the University of North Dakota Zoology Museum, in Grand Forks. The society’s museum houses exhibits relating to North Dakota’s Native Americans and pioneers, and the university’s museum has natural history exhibits. The Geographical Center Historical Museum, at Rugby, is located on the site of the geographical center of the North American continent. The State Historical Society and a number of county historical societies maintain small museums in several cities.
Communications
Colonel Clement H. Lounsberry won fame as a journalist for his reporting of the rout of General George A. Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Lounsberry, who for some years had been a reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune, founded the Bismarck Tribune as a weekly in 1873. It is North Dakota’s oldest newspaper. Other leading newspapers are the Forum, published in Fargo, and the Grand Forks Herald. In 2002 there were 8 daily newspapers in North Dakota.
North Dakota’s first radio station, WDAY, in Fargo, went on the air in 1922, within two years of the first radio broadcast in the United States. In 2002 the state had 34 AM and 44 FM radio stations, and 24 television stations.
Music and Theater
The early settlers brought with them a great love for music and pageantry that continued in their new land. Almost every community has a band and singing group, and there are a number of amateur theater groups in the state. Grand Forks, Fargo, and Minot sponsor community symphony orchestras. Other communities offer annual concert series by visiting musicians, and various towns have associations for the study and exhibition of art. Grand Forks is home to the North Dakota Ballet Company, and Fargo is the site of the Fargo-Moorhead Civic Opera Company.
RECREATION AND PLACES OF INTEREST
North Dakotans participate in a variety of winter sports. These include skating, sleighing, and tobogganing. Ski trails and tows are being opened at various locations in the state, and the larger cities hold winter sports carnivals. People are also attracted to annual summer pageants depicting historical events associated with North Dakota and to the numerous agricultural fairs in the state.
The state’s many wildlife refuges (more than any other state) offer bountiful opportunities to observe animals. Bison, antelope, and bighorn sheep can frequently be seen, as can the hundreds of different species of birds that make the state home.
National Parks
The two units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park encompass 28,509 hectares (70,447 acres) of rugged Badlands. Inside the park, near Amidon, is an area where burning underground coal beds emit an intense heat through a fissure in the earth’s surface. Prehistoric plant and animal fossils, as well as several petrified forests, are found at this location. Buttes, domes, and cones that resisted erosion rise up on both sides of the Little Missouri River. Mineral deposits cause these rock towers to cast hues of lavender, green, yellow, and red.
The Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, near Stanton, contains the location of large Native American villages encountered during the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806. The Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site is a reconstruction of the fort that was the major trading center of the northern plains in the early 1800s.
International Peace Garden, which lies partly in North Dakota and partly in Manitoba, Canada, features a formal garden, lakes, and picnic areas and honors the long friendship between the two nations. It is operated by a nonprofit corporation.
Two national grasslands, Sheyenne and Little Missouri, are strongholds for dozens of wildlife species. Sheyenne, located in the southeastern portion of the state, is well known as a stopping ground for migratory songbirds. Little Missouri grassland is located on North Dakota’s western border.
There are 17 national wildlife refuges and preserves dotted across the state. One of the country’s biggest game preserves is Sully’s Hill, where bison, elk, and deer can be seen in their natural environment.
State Parks
Most of North Dakota’s 16 state parks have picnicking and camping facilities. Several others offer fishing opportunities. The wooded Turtle River State Park attracts visitors with its many lakes ideal for swimming and boating.
State Forests
While usually thought of as a prairie state, a variety of trees grow in North Dakota’s four state forests. The aspen, bur oak, green ash, and balsam poplar that grow in Homen and Turtle Mountain state forests are ideal habitat for moose and deer, as well as a variety of smaller creatures. Tetrault Woods State Forest is a mixture of woods and wetlands, while Sheyenne State Forest is dominated by hardwoods such as elm, green ash, and oak.
Other Places to Visit
Garrison Dam and Lake Sakakawea are of great interest to visitors, as are the rich oil fields at Fryburg. A noteworthy historic site is the Château de Mores, the lodge of the Marquis de Mores, in the village of Medora, which was founded by the marquis in 1883. The state historic site at Fort Abercrombie contains restored infantry blockhouses dating from pioneer days, and Whitestone Hill Battlefield State Historic Site enshrines the site where a particularly fierce battle occurred between the Native Americans and United States Cavalry forces. The restored boyhood home of band leader Lawrence Welk can be visited in Strasburg. North America’s tallest structure, at 629 m (2,063 ft), is the television tower near Blanchard, north of Fargo. Native American tribes have opened gambling casinos in several areas.
Annual Events
Residents and visitors enjoy year-round festivals and fairs in North Dakota. Historic sites featuring reenactments of pioneering days are especially popular in the summertime. West Fargo hosts the Red River Valley Fair in July. Sodbuster Days, in mid-July, remember the pioneer farmers with demonstrations of agricultural techniques using antique tools and engines. The North Dakota State Fair, held in Minot, is also in July. Dickinson Roughrider Days, during the Fourth of July weekend, is the city’s largest rodeo. Events feature barrel racing, roping, and bareback riding by professional rodeo riders. A long-running football rivalry between the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University captures statewide attention with an annual game. |
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