North Dakota’s history goes back quite a ways. Even though none of us alive today were there when the state was granted statehood in 1889, we can still go back in time and see what it was like for ourselves with the amazing technology that is photography. Let’s jump back a century ago and see what the Peace Garden State looked like from 1918 and earlier. Some of these photos are so different from today that they may shock you.

1. Main Street in Bowman, North Dakota taken in 1910.
bowmanlibrary/Flickr
2. The First National Bank of Ellendale, North Dakota, so much different than our banks now. Photograph taken between 1904 and 1909.
Angela Smith/Flickr
3. Crowds gather for a Fourth of July parade through Forbes, North Dakota, taken in 1913.
Angela Smith/Flickr
4. The Benson County Courthouse in Minnewaukan, North Dakota. This was taken sometime between 1901 and 1910.
Wikimedia commons

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5. This postcard from 1909 shows Third Street in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Wikimedia commons
6. Main Street in the town of Linton, ND. This photo was taken in 1915.
Wikimedia commons
7. Freighting on the Missouri River was common in North Dakota back then, like in this photograph taken in 1912 near Williston, ND.
Wikimedia commons
8. The Grafton State School, photographed sometime between 1903 and 1919.
Wikimedia commons
9. An original Mandan lodge photographed in 1908 in North Dakota.
Wikimedia commons

To think that North Dakota had just begun its modern development a few decades prior to this period with sod houses and shacks, and had already established towns and cities by 100 years ago is incredible. Do you have any stories or photos from family from this long ago in the Peace Garden State? Please feel free to share them with us!

Check out these photographs from NoDak in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s for more recent, yet nostalgic, history.

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