50 Interesting Facts About North Dakota

Every State has a lot of fun facts and history.  The following North Dakota list should be of interest because Rutland made it in the top three!

  1. 1.  At 3.2%, North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the United States.c
  6. It’s illegal to go dancing in Fargo with a hat on. It is even illegal to wear a hat at a party where other people are dancing. It is also illegal in North Dakota to take a nap with your shoes on. After 11 pm, it is illegal to set off fireworks at Devils Lake in North Dakota.n
  7. The smallest city in North Dakota is Maza, with a population of 5 people. North Dakota does not have towns or villages. Each place is officially a city, no matter how small it is.n
  8. North Dakota is the least-visited state in America.h
  9. Lying just under the surface of western North Dakota is about 25 billion tons of lignite, enough to supply the region’s coal needs for over 800 years.n
  10. Dakota is the Sioux word for “friend” or “ally.”n
  11. Famous people from North Dakota include musician and bandleader Lawrence Welk, baseball legend Roger Maris, news reporter and commentator Eric Sevareid, author Louis L’Amour, singer Peggy Lee, actress Angie Dickenson, and actor Josh Duhamel.i
  12. In 2008, Fargo, North Dakota, hosted the largest pancake feed in the world.i
  13. In 1987, North Dakota passed a bill making English the official state language.i
  14. North Dakota is the only state in the country with a state-owned bank, the Bank of North Dakota. It also has a state-owned flour mill.i
  15. Lewis and Clark spent more time in North Dakota than in any other place they visited on their expedition.n
  16. By 2000, 99.5% of North Dakota’s original grassland had been turned into farms and ranches.i
  17. Huge herds of bison once roamed the plains of North Dakota. By 1900, fewer than 600 were left. President Roosevelt spearheaded efforts to save the bison, and today about 90,000 live in North Dakota. True buffalo are found only in Asia and Europe. Early European settlers thought bison looked like buffalo and, hence, confused the names.n
  18. In 1995 the square dance became North Dakota’s official American folk dance. Square dancing combines elements of various European dances, including the quadrille of France.n
  19. North Dakota holds the Guinness World Record for the most snow angels made simultaneously in one place. On February 17, 2007, 8,962 people made snow angels at the state capitol grounds. They beat the earlier record of 3,784 set at Michigan Technological University the previous year.j
  20. North Dakota farmland would cover over 12 million city blocks. Farmers there produce enough wheat each year to make 12.6 billion loaves of bread.n
  21. North Dakota has the highest percentage of church-going population in the country. It also has more churches per capita than any other state.f
  22. North Dakota ranchers produce enough beef to make 113 million hamburgers each year. There are approximately three times more cattle than people in North Dakota and Angus is the most popular variety of cow.
  23. North Dakota’s Jamestown, also known as Buffalo City, houses the “World’s Largest Buffalo.” The statue is 26 feet tall, 46 feet long, and weighs 60 tons. A herd of bison graze below the statue, including a rare albino named Mahpiya Ska, Lakota for “White Cloud.”k
  24. North Dakota’s state capitol is 242 feet high. It is the tallest building in North Dakota and the 3rd-tallest capitol in the country. The original capitol burned to the ground on December 28, 1930.k
  25. North Dakota produces enough canola oil every year to fill the state capitol’s 19-story tower 19 times.k
  26. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state in the United States. However, it is the 3rd-least populous and the 4th-least densely populated state in the U.S.k
  27. Comedian Red Skeleton once quipped that North Dakota is the “the only place I’ve been where I didn’t have to look up to see the sky.”k
  28. North Dakota became the 39th state in 1889. It was admitted the same day as South Dakota. Because both states wanted to be the first state admitted, President Benjamin Harrison shuffled both statehood papers and signed them without knowing which one was first. However, because North Dakaota is alphabetically before South Dakota, its proclamation was published first.n
  29. Less than 1% of North Dakota is forest, the smallest amount of any state.i
  30. Rhode Island, the smallest state in the US, could fit inside North Dakota 46 times.i
  31. Temperatures drop below 0° F on average of 65 days a year near the Canadian border and 35 days a year in the southwestern part of the state, making it one of the coldest states in the nation. The western parts of both Dakotas are also the windiest area of the United States.i
  32. Between 1950-2004, an average of 21 tornadoes a year hit North Dakota. In 1999 alone, 65 tornadoes ripped through the state. North Dakota’s deadliest tornado had winds of more than 300 mph (483 kph) in 1957. It struck Fargo, killing 10 people and injuring 103.i
  33. French Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de La Vérendrye led the first group of Europeans to explore what is now North Dakota.n
  34. North Dakota is the nation’s 3rd-top sugar producer.i
  35. In 1887, North Dakotan David Henderson Houston invented a camera. He named it by scrambling the first four letters of Dakota and adding a “K” to make Kodak. He later sold the rights of the Kodak camera to George Eastman.k
  36. North Dakota has had several nicknames, including Flickertail State, Roughrider State, and Peace Garden State.k
  37. Rugby, North Dakota, claims that it is the geographical center of North America. However, experts say the true center is closer to Balta, which is 15 miles southwest of Rugby.k
  38. Movies filmed in North Dakota including Dakota (1945), Fargo (1995), and the documentary My Father’s Garden (1996). None of the scenes in the popular movieFargo was filmed there. Additionally, the movie was loosely based on two true events that happened in Minnesota, not North Dakota. But the wood chipper used in the movie is now on display at the Fargo-Moorhead Visitor Center.d,e
  39. North Dakota is the home to the largest state-owned sheep research center in the United States.i
  40. North Dakota produces more honey than any other state.n
  41. The state that grows the most sunflowers is North Dakota.k
  42. North Dakota has only one abortion clinic and has been rated as the worst state in the country for women.a
  43. North Dakota has more national wildlife refuges (62) than any other state.n
  44. North Dakota has long, harsh winters and short, hot summers. Both of its recorded weather extremes occurred in 1936: -60° F in February and 121° F in July.n
  45. One of the quirkiest sports in North Dakota is lawn mower racing. By the time mowers are customized, they can reach speeds of 60 mph, compared to the 5 mph they might do in the backyard.i
  46. The J.R. Simplot potato processing plant in Grand Forks, ND, produces over 400 million pounds of French fries per year. McDonald’s is its main customers.i
  47. Quirky city and place names in North Dakota include Antler, Buttzville, Cannon Ball, Concrete, Flasher, Medicine Hole, On-a-Slant Village, Ops, Three V Crossing, and Zap.o
  48. The most popular tourist spot in North Dakota is the Wild West town of Medora, which was founded in 1883 by the Marquis de Mores, a French nobleman. According to the 2010 census, its population is 112 people.n
  49. In 2010, scientists discovered that 80% of the 406 road-side plants they collected in North Dakota showed evidence of genetic modification. Scientists note that the proper monitoring and control of genetically modified crops in the United States is severely lacking and that the escape of genetically modified crops is “unprecedented.”b
  50. A North Dakotan highway sculpture named “Geese in Flight” holds the Guinness World Record as the largest metal sculpture in the world. Erected in 2001, it is 156 feet long, 100 feet tall, and weighs 75 tons. Retired schoolteacher Gary Greff, who wanted to break up the tedium on the highway, constructed it.n

References and more fun facts about North Dakota can be found at the website http://facts.randomhistory.com/north-dakota-facts.html

19 thoughts on “50 Interesting Facts About North Dakota

      1. T.J. Niemi

        Bahahaha!!! Your statement couldn’t be more false. Girls are born in this state every day. My best friends 2 year old daughter & my god daughters 1 year old sister didn’t just show up out of thin air…they were born in North Dakota hospitals.

  1. Toni Jorgenson

    ND’s state fruit is the chokecherry. Elementary students helped pass legislation to do this. A chokecherry festival with bands–entertainment and chokecherry syrup and ice cream syrup is enjoyed each summer in the city of Williston, ND.

  2. Jessica Blair

    There is no substantial basis for the claim behind fact #42 “North Dakota has only one abortion clinic and has been rated as the worst state in the country for women.” It is true that there is only one abortion clinic in the state, but fact #26 “North Dakota …. is the 3rd-least populous and the 4th-least densely populated state in the U.S.” provides a reasonable explanation for the states lack of clinics right in the same post. Secondly, the article that the author cites in reference to “Rating” North Dakota as one of the worst states for women to live in does not rate anything at all. The blog post (not research project) was created by a single woman who resides in New York. She addresses some recent, not so positive changes for women in several different states, but has no sort of “ranking” system. In my opinion, this article has no basis to infer that North Dakota is the worst state in the country for women based on a single article titled “The Worst State for Women?” Even the article itself sounds unsure. Beyond the obvious lack of concrete evidence and support for fact #42, the rest of the list portrays North Dakota in a fairly positive light. It seems strange that the women living in “most well run” state the country with the lowest unemployment rate would be so unhappy. Plus, we don’t have to look up to see the sky.

    1. Great response. Don’t forget #21, also: “North Dakota has the highest percentage of church-going population in the country. It also has more churches per capita than any other state.”

      1. Dorry

        See Jessica Blair’s response above. Also, abortion does not harm women. It secures their choice to manage their own health when necessary to do so.

      2. Ed Rord

        You are sick Dorry and your ignorance will someday catch up to you. First off, “abortion does not harm women.” Come sit down in a counseling center and listen to the regret of women who were coerced and railroaded into abortions by almighty planned parenthood so they could make another dollar. Then I invite you to come watch a video of a 13 week old fetus attempt to avoid the doctor utensils coming in to kill it. Once you’ve gotten through that, please sit down with my sister who is unable to have children now because of the damage done to her cervix during an abortion procedure in college. Secondly, Hitler called his murder “ethnic cleansing”, you call yours “managing health”. I could puke.

  3. Dorry

    #’s 16, 29, 42, and 49 make me sad but I haven’t done the research behind the facts. But big sky and sunflowers make me happy. thanks for sharing!

  4. Nymphadora Lupin

    #6 is completely incorrect. There have never been laws stating that one could not wear a hat to a dance party and that one cannot take a nap while wearing shoes. As for the claim that it is illegal to shoot fireworks after 11pm, I’d say that’d fall underneath the whole courtesy of noise restrictions after late hours. http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/63312/

  5. Mike

    I would not worry about 49. If you read up on genetically modified crops most of what is written on the internet is false. It is kind of like everything that they put out about the illuminati made up with no real facts.

  6. #38 says that none of the scenes in the movie fargo were filmed in ND in the second sentence. Many of the scenes were filmed in north east North Dakota in Pembina county. Most of the desolate road scenes were filmed there and i believe they used the small town of Bathgate as a stand-in for Brainerd MN.

  7. Matt2

    Richard, #38 does not say that no scenes in the movie Fargo were filmed in North Dakota. It states that no scenes were filmed in FARGO.

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