Posted in North Dakota June 23, 2017 by

10 Photos That Show How Different North Dakota Looked 100 Years Ago

It’s hard to believe that 100 years ago we were about to enter the 1920s. North Dakota has changed a lot since that time. It’s been through multiple oil booms. It’s seen towns rise and fade away or even become large cities. North Dakotans experienced droughts and floods and extreme weather of all kinds. Needless to say, this state has been through quite a history!

Throughout all that, photographs have been taken to document these changes. Take a look at these vintage photographs from places around North Dakota that show you just how different this state looked back then:

1. The Grand Forks County courthouse and a few shops along the road captured in this photograph from 1915.
Wikimedia
2. Freighting on the Missouri River near Williston, North Dakota back in 1912.
NARA/Wikimedia
3. Two men work a tractor and a road grater in rural North Dakota in this photograph from 1918.
NDSU/Wikimedia
4. Main street in Linton, North Dakota as it looked like in 1915.
Wikimedia
5. Fort Totten when it was still an active fort. This was taken sometime in the late 1800s.
LoC/Wikimedia
6. The courthouse and post office in Bismarck, North Dakota, dated 1913.
National Archives/Wikimedia
7. Photograph of a mill in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Dated 1922, out of a book titled Beginners Civics.
8. A true Mandan earth lodge photographed in North Dakota in 1908. Similar lodges can be seen today at places like the On-A-Slant Village in Mandan, North Dakota.
LoC/Wikimedia
9. University of North Dakota's Science Hall is shown in this photograph taken in 1907.
Wikimedia
10. A cattle ranch near Devils Lake, North Dakota captured in a photograph from 1891.
NARA/Wikimedia

Some of these are vastly different, while others still show through to today! Do you have any historic family photos or similar of North Dakota from this long ago? Feel free to share them!

We’ve explored other decades in North Dakota’s history. Check out the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and the 1970s for a trip back in time.