50 Fun Facts About North Dakota

What is the capital of North Dakota?

Fargo is the largest city, home to nearly a fifth of the state's population.

North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted to the Union on the same day in which year?

They became the 39th and 40th states on November 2.

How did President Benjamin Harrison settle the rivalry over which Dakota was admitted ahead of the other?

Because nobody knows, the states are numbered alphabetically, with North Dakota as 39th.

The word 'Dakota' comes from a Sioux word meaning what?

The state is named for the Dakota and Sioux peoples.

Which two Canadian provinces border North Dakota to the north?

Minnesota lies to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west.

A stone obelisk in which North Dakota town claims to mark the geographic centre of North America?

The USGS puts the real centre about 15 miles away, but the 1931 marker still draws visitors.

What is North Dakota's highest point, at 3,506 feet?

It sits in the Badlands, near Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Lake Sakakawea, formed by Garrison Dam on the Missouri, ranks where among US artificial lakes by size?

The dam itself, over two miles long, is the fifth-largest earthen dam in the world.

The flat, fertile Red River Valley in the east is the bottom of which ancient glacial body of water?

The Red River flows north into Lake Winnipeg.

What is the largest natural body of water in North Dakota?

Sakakawea and Oahe are both reservoirs on the Missouri.

In winter 1935-36, Langdon set a contiguous-US record by staying below 0°F for how many straight days?

In 1918 Granville swung 83 degrees, from -33°F to 50°F, in twelve hours.

North Dakota is the only state to own which two institutions, both founded by farmer-populists a century ago?

The Bank of North Dakota is in Bismarck and the Mill and Elevator in Grand Forks.

Oil extraction from which shale formation drove North Dakota's 21st-century boom?

Fracking unlocked it in the early 2000s; petroleum was first found in the state in 1951.

Which state overtook North Dakota as the second-biggest oil producer in March 2021?

As of June 2025 it ranks third.

North Dakota grows about what share of the US canola crop?

It also grows 94% of the flax seed and 58% of the durum wheat.

Which sweet product is North Dakota the leading US producer of?

It is also the top producer of dry peas, beans and lentils, and second for sugarbeets.

The North Dakota State Capitol is what kind of building?

It replaced the original capitol, which burned to the ground in December 1930.

The Northern Pacific Railway renamed Edwinton, the future capital, in 1873 in honour of whom?

It had briefly been called Edwinton after the railway's engineer-in-chief.

The state's largest city was originally called Centralia. Whom is it now named after?

Fargo was also a director of the Northern Pacific Railway.

Where did the Coen brothers' 1996 film Fargo actually set most of its action?

Only one early scene, in a bar, takes place in Fargo itself.

Which two Academy Awards did the film Fargo win?

Frances McDormand's Marge Gunderson is a seven-months-pregnant police chief in Brainerd.

Who created the FX anthology series Fargo, which shares continuity with the film?

Each season is a self-contained story.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is unique among US national parks in what way?

Roosevelt first came to the Badlands to hunt bison in 1883 and invested in the Maltese Cross Ranch.

The town of Medora, gateway to the park, was founded in 1883 by a French nobleman and named after whom?

The Marquis de Mores wanted to ship refrigerated meat to Chicago by rail.

The Enchanted Highway is a 32-mile stretch of road lined with what?

Gary Greff's Geese in Flight is 110 feet tall and visible from I-94.

Salem Sue, in New Salem, is the world's largest what?

The 38-foot fiberglass cow was built in 1974 for $40,000 to honour local dairy farming.

The International Peace Garden on the Manitoba border was established in which year?

It covers 3.65 square miles and gave North Dakota its nickname, the Peace Garden State.

The KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota once held which record?

The state also claims North America's geographic centre at Rugby.

Norsk Høstfest, North America's largest Scandinavian festival, is held each September where?

Nearly a third of Minot's population is Norwegian-American, and the town has a stave church.

Roughly what share of North Dakotans are of Norwegian descent?

In 1940 nearly 13% of the state still spoke Norwegian and 20% spoke German.

Which big-band leader, famous for "champagne music", was born in Strasburg, North Dakota?

He began as a bandleader on the Great Plains in the 1920s.

Which jazz and pop singer was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota?

Her father was a station agent for the Midland Continental Railroad.

Fifteen-year-old Bobby Vee got his start filling in for whom at a 1959 Moorhead concert?

Holly had died in the plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, on the way to the show.

Which slugger, raised in Fargo, hit a then-record 61 home runs in 1961?

He was born in Hibbing, Minnesota, and moved to Fargo in 1946.

Which 11-time NBA champion coach played his high school basketball in Williston, North Dakota?

He was born in Deer Lodge, Montana, and led Williston to a state title.

Which actor, star of Las Vegas and the Transformers films, was born in Minot?

Rapper Wiz Khalifa was also born in Minot, to Air Force parents.

Which actress, born in Kulm, moved to Burbank at ten and became a Hollywood star?

She is among the entertainers the state claims, alongside Jonny Lang and Lynn Anderson.

Louise Erdrich, who won the 2021 Pulitzer for The Night Watchman, is a citizen of which North Dakota tribe?

The Plague of Doves was a Pulitzer finalist in 2009.

Which NFL quarterback from the state capital won two FCS national titles as North Dakota State's starter?

He played at Century High School before joining the Bison.

What team name did the University of North Dakota adopt in 2015 to replace the Sioux name?

The men's hockey team plays in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Which conference did the North Dakota State Bison football team join in 2026, moving up to FBS?

They left the Missouri Valley Football Conference after a run of FCS titles.

Who was the first European to reach what is now North Dakota, visiting the Mandan villages in 1738?

Assiniboine guides led the French-Canadian trader there.

Which WWI-era political movement created the state bank and mill and shielded farmland from foreclosure?

It ran candidates on the Republican ticket and merged into the Democrats after World War II.

North Dakota is the fourth-least populous state. Which three have fewer people?

Half of North Dakotans still live in rural areas.

Which Amtrak train crosses North Dakota, stopping at Fargo in the small hours of the morning?

It inherits its name from James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway service.

The original state capitol in the capital city burned down on which date?

Its limestone-faced art-deco replacement still stands and is one of the few US capitols built as a tower.

Roughly what share of the US durum wheat crop does North Dakota grow?

It also leads the nation in barley, hard red spring wheat and flax seed, despite under 10% of residents working in farming.

The south-central part of the state became known by which nickname because of its settlers?

Ethnic Germans invited to Russia by Catherine the Great in 1762 later left in large numbers, and about 100,000 had reached the US by 1900.

What type of coal, the lowest grade, does North Dakota have billions of tons of?

In 2009 the state had the second-largest production of it in the US; higher grades are mined elsewhere.

Which former governor became US Secretary of the Interior after not seeking re-election in 2024?

Kelly Armstrong succeeded him as the state's 34th governor in December 2024.