July 9, 1870

At the site of the state's first settlement, Fort Pembina was started. The Army abandoned the post in 1895.

July 9, 1851

The Swiss artist Rudolph Kurz accepted employment with the American Fur Company at Fort Clark. He was to remain in North Dakota for almost a year, sketching pioneer subjects.

July 9, 1883

Minnewaukan, the seat of Benson County, was incorporated.

July 9, 1891

C. Norman Brunsdale, 24th governor of North Dakota from 1951-56 and U.S. senator from 1959-60, was born at Sherbrooke.

July 10, 1853

Gen. Isaac J. Stevens, surveying for a northern rail line, camped at Lake Jessie in Griggs County.

July 10, 1910

Frank V. Kent, Grand Forks postmaster, became the first person to travel as a passenger in an airplane in North Dakota at the Grand Forks Fairgrounds when he accompanied a barnstorming pilot on a nine-minute flight.

July 10, 1917

John M. Baer, a cartoonist for the Nonpartisan League, was elected to Congress at a special First District election to fill the unexpired term of the late H.T. Helgesen.

July 11, 1873

Colonel C.A. Lounsberry published the first issue of the Bismarck Tribune, the state's oldest newspaper in existence.

July 11, 1895

The secretary of war directed the abandonment of Fort Pembina, established in 1870.

July 11, 1922

Dr. V.H. Stickney of Dickinson was the speaker for the dedication of the foundation of Theodore Roosevelt Memorial at Medora, as that community honored its most distinguished former citizen.

July 12, 1930

The most destructive North Dakota windstorm on record destroyed 1,847 buildings and damaged another 5,678 over a wide area.

July 14, 1873

Bismarck came into being, honoring the "Iron Chancellor" of Germany. Formerly the community had been known as Edwinton.

July 11, 1864

General Alfred Sully established Fort Rice on the west bank of the Missouri below Mandan. It was the site of a great Indian parley in 1868.

July 11, 1944

Fire destroyed the three-story Montgomery Ward Co. store in Grand Forks.

July 12, 1911

Tom McGoey flew his home-made flying machine for the first time at Grand Forks.

July 12, 1936

The highest temperature in Grand Forks' history, 109 degrees, was recorded.

July 13, 1917

About nine years after its establishment 20 miles south of Medora, the Dakota National Forest was disestablished.

July 13, 1925

The Greater North Dakota Association and the North Dakota Automobile Association amalgamated at a meeting In Grand Forks, with J.R. Carley of Grand Forks as its president.

July 14, 1849

Led by Major Samuel Woods, an expedition to purchase the Red River Valley from the Indians entered what now is North Dakota at a site which later became Fort Abercrombie.

July 14, 1867

The Rev. Abel B. Conger became the first settler in the Devils Lake area.

July 14, 1874

The territorial legislature changed the name of Burbank County, created the previous year, to Barnes County, honoring territorial Associate Justice Alphonso H. Barnes.

July 14, 1913

The last "Glidden Tour," made up of 26 automobiles and a special train, visited Grand Forks en route from Minneapolis to Glacier Park.

July 14, 1927

Harold H. Bond succeeded Frank D. Hall as superintendent of the North Dakota Children's Home (now Children's Village, Fargo). When Bond retired in 1951, his 24 years of service equaled those of his predecessors.

July 14, 1932

The cairn at the International Peace Garden was dedicated before a crowd of about 50,000. The cairn, built of native stones gathered from both sides of the international border, rests on the soil of both the United States and Canada.

July 15, 1831

The steamer "Yellowstone" completed the first successful voyage on the Upper Missouri by reaching St. Louis on a return voyage from Fort Union, in what now is North Dakota, carrying a full cargo of buffalo roves, furs, peltries and 10,000 pounds of buffalo tongues.

July 15, 1902

The Great Northern Depot at Thompson was blown down and buildings at Emerado were damaged in a severe windstorm.

July 15, 1935

Voters affirmed a 2 percent North Dakota sales tax law in a special referendum election.

July 15, 1941

Devils Lake voters approved, by a vote of 730 to 17, establishment of a junior college, now known as Lake Region Junior College.

July 15, 1942

R.A. Nestos, governor of North Dakota from 1921-24, died in Minot at 65.

July 16, 1878

A post office was established at a settlement later named Mandan.

July 16, 1895

Formal orders were issued for the abandonment of Fort Pembina the following month, partly as a result of a fire that destroyed troop barracks at the fort.

July 16, 1913

The cornerstone for the new Grand Forks County Courthouse was laid.

July 16, 1961

The first B52 bomber, named the "Peace Persuader," arrived at Minot Air Force Base.

July 16, 1887

Minot was incorporated as a city, less than a year after the townsite was platted on land on which Erik Ramstad had settled by squatter's rights after going west from Grafton in May 1885.

July 16, 1873

The first commission of Burleigh County met and appointed county officials.

July 17, 1873

The Dakota Territory settlement of Edwinton officially was renamed Bismarck.

July 17, 1934

Governor William H. Langer was removed from office after conviction, later reversed, on a federal conspiracy charge.

July 17, 1934

Governor William H. Langer was removed from office after conviction, later reversed, on a federal conspiracy charge.

July 17, 1963

Voters of North Dakota defeated five new tax laws in a lopsided referendum.

July 17, 1867

Fort Totten was established by General Alfred H. Terry on the southern shores of Devils Lake. Guiding army troops to the site was the frontiersman Pierre Bottineau. The garrison was withdrawn from the fort in 1890.

July 18, 1870

Sanford Cady qualified as postmaster at Grand Forks, naming the settlement the English translation of the French "La Grandes Fourche."

July 18, 1863

Congressman Hjalmar Nygaard of North Dakota died in Washington, D.C., at 57 after being stricken while on the floor of the House.

July 18, 1891

Fargo and Grand Forks baseball teams, playing at Devils lake, played 25 innings without either team scoring a run. Years later this was cited as a world's record for a scoreless game.

July 18, 1934

North Dakota Supreme Court held Governor William Langer disqualified for office. Ole Olson assumed the office.

July 19, 1875

Charles Oliver Maloney, the first white boy born in the village of Grand Forks, was born to Captain and Mrs. H.E. Maloney.

July 19, 1894

North Dakota Republicans, meeting in Grand Forks, nominated Roger Allin of Walsh County for governor.

July 19, 1934

Lieutenant Governor Ole H. Olson took physical possession of the governor's office of North Dakota, following the ouster by the Supreme Court of Governor William Langer.

July 19, 1815

The first federal treaty with the Sioux, of later significance to North Dakota history, was signed.

July 19, 1881

Sitting Bull and the remnants of his followers came into Fort Buford, near present-day Williston, to surrender. Since the Custer massacre in 1876, the great Sioux leader had been living in Canada with occasional forays into North Dakota and Montana.

July 20, 1897

Carl Ben Eielson, famed polar aviator, was born at Hatton.