On this date in 1954, Byron G. Allen, Democratic National Committeeman for Minnesota, sent a letter to P. W. Lanier, Sr. Lanier was an ardent Democratic Party activist who had come to Jamestown from Memphis, Tennessee, during the early 1920s.
As 1930 drew to a close, North Dakotans were in a state of shock. In the early hours of December 28, the guard on duty at the state capitol building heard a noise on the fourth floor and discovered a fire. He immediately called in a fire alarm. Bismarck’s two fire trucks and three firefighters quickly responded, but the blaze was out of control. As word of the disaster spread, citizens hurried to help.
Dec 28, 2020
Dec 28, 2020
Ninety years ago â December 28, 1930 â people gathered on what was then the north side of Bismarck to watch as a Sunday morning fire destroyed the state Capitol.
Capitol burns
Combined accounts from various stories in the Tribune archive.
Ninety years ago â December 28, 1930 â thousands of people gathered on what was then the north side of Bismarck to watch as a Sunday morning fire destroyed the state Capitol.
Their emotions were mixed. Certainly they were excited, but more than a few were grieved by the passing of the old building. The cornerstone of the state Capitol had been laid in 1883 and it had been visited by such famous names as Ulysses S. Grant and Sitting Bull. President Theodore Roosevelt had given a speech from its south portico. The great men of North Dakota s past â men like John Miller, John Burke, George Winship and King John Satterlund â had strode down its hallways. It had bee