North Dakota

A

Education

At the time the state was created, in 1889, there were more than 1,000 public schools. In the middle of the 20th century, North Dakota, like many other states, began to consolidate its school districts for greater economy and efficiency, and by 2001 the number of school districts had been reduced to 228. School attendance is compulsory for all children from the age of 7 to 16. About 6 percent of the state’s children attend private schools.

In the 2004–2005 school year North Dakota spent $8,837 on each student’s education, compared to a national average of $9,910. There were 12.1 students for every teacher (the national average was 15.5 students per teacher). Of those older than 25 years of age in 2007, 89 percent had a high school diploma, the national norm being 84.5 percent.

A

1

Higher Education

North Dakota’s major institutions of higher education are the state-supported University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, and North Dakota State University in Fargo. In 2006–2007 the state had 14 public and 8 private institutions of higher education. They included Dickinson State University, in Dickinson; Jamestown College, in Jamestown; University of Mary , in Bismarck; Mayville State University, in Mayville; Minot State University, in Minot, with a two-year school in Bottineau; and Valley City State University, in Valley City.

B

Libraries

The first of the state’s public libraries was opened in Grafton in 1897. That same year the superintendent of public instruction established the traveling library system, which for decades rotated books from school to school throughout the state. The state library commission was also established, primarily to serve rural needs. The state has 83 tax-supported library systems. Each year the libraries circulate an average of 7.5 books for every resident. The largest libraries in the state are at the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University. Both have extensive special collections that include Scandinavian and Icelandic literature and materials on North Dakota’s history and politics. The University of North Dakota has a complete set of the original Nuremberg Trial records, which document war crimes committed during World War II (1939-1945) (see War Crimes Trials).

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C

Museums

Two well-known museums are the museum of the State Historical Society at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck, and the University of North Dakota Zoology Museum, in Grand Forks. The society’s museum houses exhibits relating to North Dakota’s Native Americans and pioneers, and the university’s museum has natural history exhibits. The Geographical Center Historical Museum, at Rugby, is located on the site of the geographical center of the North American continent. The State Historical Society and a number of county historical societies maintain small museums in several cities.

D

Communications

Colonel Clement H. Lounsberry won fame as a journalist for his reporting of the rout of General George A. Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Lounsberry, who for some years had been a reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune, founded the Bismarck Tribune as a weekly in 1873. It is North Dakota’s oldest newspaper. Other leading newspapers are the Forum, published in Fargo, and the Grand Forks Herald. In 2002 there were 8 daily newspapers in North Dakota.

North Dakota’s first radio station, WDAY, in Fargo, went on the air in 1922, within two years of the first radio broadcast in the United States. In 2002 the state had 34 AM and 44 FM radio stations, and 24 television stations.

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