North Dakota Trivia & Tidbits

Looking for North Dakota trivia? Try our list North Dakota little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Founded in 1997 in Bismarck (pop. 55,532), Space Aliens Grill and Bar franchised restaurants feature domed ceilings that display paintings of outer space, alien sculptures and extraterrestrial settings.

first appeared: 10/18/2009

Held since 1889, the Bottineau County Fair in Bottineau (pop. 2,336) is the oldest county fair in the state.

first appeared: 10/4/2009

Since 1969, the Fort Seward Wagon Train has left Jamestown (pop. 15,527) for an annual week-long trip that is a rolling history lesson as participants wear pioneer clothing, cook meals over campfires, camp out and travel in canvas-topped wagons.

first appeared: 9/20/2009

At Wadeson Park State Historic Site near Kathryn (pop. 63), visitors can see a hand-hewn log home built in 1878 by settlers Carl Jensen and his nephew, John Bjerke. Through the years, the cabin served as a community hall, country store, pioneer home and, finally, an icehouse.

first appeared: 9/6/2009

Twisted steel girders salvaged from New York City's World Trade Center devastation were used in the 9/11 Memorial Site at the International Peace Garden, a cooperatively managed garden on the border of the United States and Canada near Dunseith (pop. 739).

first appeared: 8/23/2009

Encompassing 8,438 acres, Tewaukon National Wildlife Refuge on the Wild Rice River near Cayuga (pop. 61) was established in 1945 to serve as a nesting, feeding and resting area for migratory waterfowl. About 240 species of birds have been identified at the refuge.

first appeared: 8/9/2009

A rare set of red panda triplets was born in June at the Red River Zoo in Fargo (pop. 90,599). The red pandas, which are considered endangered, resemble raccoons with long, bushy tails.

first appeared: 7/26/2009

—Larry Grossman, 56, of Northwood (pop. 959), correctly spelled botryoidal, which means shaped like a bunch of grapes, to set himself up to win the 2008 AARP National Spelling Bee. His final spelling word was debouch. The contest is for spellers 50 or older.

first appeared: 7/12/2009

—The fire hydrants in Stanley (pop. 1,279) spark smiles. They're painted to resemble historical and famous figures, such as Uncle Sam and Amelia Earhart.

first appeared: 6/28/2009

—Built in 1912 from logs and sod, the frontier post office in Grassy Butte still stands and today is a museum.

first appeared: 6/14/2009

—Named in 1967, the official state fossil is Teredo petrified wood, which bears the boreholes of the Teredo, a worm-shaped mollusk. Teredo wood is prized by collectors.

first appeared: 5/31/2009

—Completed in 1883, the brick Stutsman County courthouse in Jamestown (pop. 15,527) is the oldest existing courthouse in the state.

first appeared: 5/17/2009

—Founded in 1883, the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks (pop. 49,321) is the state's oldest and largest institution of higher learning.

first appeared: 5/3/2009

–Fashioned from more than 2,000 steel tire rims, the W'eel Turtle in Dunseith (pop. 739) stands two stories tall. It was built in 1982 by George Gottbreht. Dunseith is in the Turtle Mountains.

first appeared: 4/19/2009

—Founded in 1890, The Walsh County Record in Grafton (pop. 4,516) is the state's largest weekly newspaper. It has been operated since 1923 by the Rilie Morgan family.

first appeared: 4/5/2009

—An 8-foot-tall, 500-pound chainsaw carving titled "Wood-Chip Marge" commemorates character Marge Gunderson from the 1996 movie Fargo and stands at the Fargo Theatre. The statue was a gift from MGM Home Entertainment to the City of Fargo (pop. 90,599).

first appeared: 3/22/2009

—The state is ranked as having the most outgoing and agreeable people of any state in the nation, based on research that discovered regional personality traits. Results were published last year in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science.

first appeared: 3/8/2009

—The Odalen Lutheran Church, near Edinburg (pop. 252), burned to the ground in 2007, but the community hasn’t forgotten it. They placed an 80-foot steel cross as a memorial for the 1897 church built by Norwegian immigrants. The cross stands among the pioneers’ gravestones.

first appeared: 2/22/2009

—In 1883, Theodore Roosevelt invested in the Maltese Cross Ranch near Medora (pop. 100) and stayed in the three-room Maltese Cross Cabin when he was in the Badlands. During his presidency, the log cabin was exhibited in Portland, Ore., and St. Louis before being moved to the Capitol grounds in Bismarck, then in 1959 to its present site near the Medora Visitors Center.

first appeared: 2/8/2009

—In 1934, golfer George Wegener, of Portal (pop. 131), scored an international hole-in-one when he drove the ball from the ninth tee in Canada into the hole on the ninth green in the United States in Portal.

first appeared: 1/11/2009

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