It never hurts to reminisce or reflect upon our past once in a while. North Dakota’s past is full of a rich history that has brought us to where we are today. Even though we can’t go back to that time ourselves, we can still look at old photographs and get a sense of what it was like. That along with stories passed down through families for generations keeps our history alive.
These 14 vintage photographs – from as early as the mid 1800s to as late as the 1940s – are perfect ways to step into this past.
- Ox carts at a railway station by the Red River, taken in the 1860s - before North Dakota was a state.
Benjamin Franklin Upton/Wikimedia
- An office building in Fargo, ND photographed in 1939. Read the signs listing what businesses are in the office.
Arthur Rothstein/yale.edu
- This photograph from 1942 shows a few kids playing in the snow in the town of Richardton, ND.
John Vachon/yale.edu
- A horse and a car meet on a road near Halliday, ND, in 1933. The caption the photographer gave it mentioned that the horse can navigate the roads better than the “speedier automobile.”
NARA/Wikimedia
- Downtown Starkweather, ND, captured in this photograph from 1940. It’s not often you see barbershop poles anymore!
John Vachon/yale.edu
- A man filling buckets of spring water to load onto his truck, taken near Wheelock, ND in 1937.
Russell Lee/yale.edu
- The snow-covered town of Hettinger, ND in 1942.
John Vachon/yale.edu
- A young boy bringing in the cows on his pony. Photo taken near Minot, ND in 1948.
Mennonite Community Photographs/Wikimedia
- A busy counting room in the Bank of North Dakota, taken in 1920.
Charles Edward Russell/Wikimedia
- Downtown Grand Forks in 1909. This was taken on 3rd Street, looking south.
Wikimedia
- Houses and buildings being moved after a flood, taken in the late 1940s.
NARA/Wikimedia
- Class in session in a rural, one-room school house in Williams County. Photo taken in 1937.
Russell Lee/yale.edu
- A grand hotel in Rolla, ND, captured in this photograph from 1940.
LOC/Wikimedia
- A Farmers Union Oil Co. gas station in Williston, ND, captured in 1941.
WPA/Wikimedia
Explore more vintage, black and white photographs of North Dakota by decade in our previous collections. You can find photographs of the state from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and more!
Benjamin Franklin Upton/Wikimedia
Arthur Rothstein/yale.edu
John Vachon/yale.edu
NARA/Wikimedia
Russell Lee/yale.edu
Mennonite Community Photographs/Wikimedia
Charles Edward Russell/Wikimedia
Wikimedia
LOC/Wikimedia
WPA/Wikimedia
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