Minot North Dakota History & Facts

Minot is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately 15 miles (24 km) north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 2020 census. Minot is the state's fourth-largest city and a trading center for a large part of northern North Dakota, southwestern Manitoba, and southeastern Saskatchewan. Founded in 1886 during the construction of James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway, Minot is also known as "Magic City", commemorating its remarkable growth in size over a short time.

Minot is the principal city of the Minot micropolitan area, a micropolitan area that covers McHenry, Renville, and Ward counties and had a combined population of 77,546 at the 2020 census.

Minot came into existence in 1886, after the railroad laid track through the area. A tent town sprang up overnight, as if by "magic", making the city known as the Magic City, and in the next five months, the population increased to over 5,000, further bolstering the nickname. 39 : 129  The town site was chosen by the railroad to be placed on the land of then-homesteader Erik Ramstad. Ramstad was convinced to relinquish his claim and became one of the city leaders. The town was named after Henry D. Minot, a railroad investor, ornithologist and friend of Hill. Its Arikara name is niwaharít sahaáhkat; its Hidatsa name is dibiarugareesh ("Plum Coulee").

The city was incorporated on July 16, 1887. The Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (Soo Line) later built a line from Valley City to Canada. While initially their plan was to cross the Mouse River at Burlington, local interests and arguments convinced them otherwise; landholders along the new route donated the right-of-way. They reached Minot in 1893.

On July 22, 1920, a tornado passed over Minot and bore down in a coulee 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of town. The tornado picked up Andy Botz's home and hurled it to the ground, killing his wife, breaking Botz's shoulder, and slightly injuring the two Botz children who were in the house.

Minot and its surrounding area were wide open from 1905 to 1920. The population grew rapidly due to railroad construction and availability of unclaimed land. Nearly complete court records of Ward County and Minot document the prevalence and different types of criminal activity, and offer strong support for the epithet "crime capitol of North Dakota". State attorney general William Langer helped clean up the town in 1917–1920, but by the time Prohibition arrived in the 1920s, Minot had become a center of illegal activities associated with the High Third district, exacerbated because the city was a supply hub of Al Capone's liquor smuggling operations. The hotbed of alcohol bootlegging, prostitution, and opium dens that sprang up in the Downtown area soon led people to nickname Minot "Little Chicago". The smugglers used a network of tunnels (some previously built for heating or deliveries) to transport and conceal illicit cargo entering from Canada.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has an area of 17.45 square miles (45.20 km2), of which 17.43 square miles (45.14 km2) is land and 0.02 square miles (0.05 km2) is water.

Famous Peoples From Minot North Dakota

Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr.

(born December 23, 1962) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the Attorney General of Texas since January 2015. Paxton has described himself as a Tea Party conservative. Paxton was re-elected to a second term as Attorney General in 2018. He previously served as Texas State Senator for the 8th district and the Texas State Representative for the 70th district.

Paxton is running for re-election in 2022. On May 24, Paxton defeated George P. Bush 68% to 32%, winning his party's nomination to advance to the November 2022 general election.

Paxton has been under indictment since 2015 on state securities fraud charges relating to activities prior to taking office. He has pleaded not guilty. In October 2020, several high-level assistants in Paxton's office accused him of "bribery, abuse of office and other crimes".

After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Donald Trump refused to concede while making false claims of election fraud, Paxton aided Trump in his efforts to overturn the result, from filing the unsuccessful Texas v. Pennsylvania case in the Supreme Court to speaking at the rally Trump held on January 6, 2021, that immediately preceded the 2021 United States Capitol attack.

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