North Dakota’s Capital City Wasn’t Always Called Bismarck

Before Bismarck was Bismarck, it went by another name. According to the city of Bismarck's history, Bismarck got its start in 1872 as Edwinton. Just a year later, the city renamed itself the capital city to honor the German Chancellor, "Prince Baron Otto Eduard Leopold Schoenhausen Von Bismarck."

First, you're probably thinking, why is this man's name so ridiculously long? That's valid; that was my initial thought, too. Second, you probably want to know why they wanted to honor this man.

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Why We Changed The City's Name

You might be wondering why they would want to honor this German Chancellor. According to the Prairie Public, Northern Pacific stockholders changed the name to Bismarck as an effort to encourage German capitalists to invest in U.S. railway bonds — this was a railroad company move. As it turns out, it didn't work; German investors passed, but the name still stuck.

Something else you might not know is that Bismarck wasn't originally North Dakota's capital city. It started as the capital of the Dakota Territory's northern half. The territorial capital was actually Yankton, which is now in South Dakota. It was only after the Dakota Territory split in two that Bismarck became the capital in 1889.