February 2014 has moved in with a cool demeanor and barely any fanfare.
But this month is notable in the history of Grand Forks and North Dakota. It marks 125 years since President Grover Cleveland signed the bill by which Congress authorized admission of the Dakotas, Montana and Washington as states.
Other events of February 1889 in Grand Forks:
- Bids were let and construction was started on the first two permanent highway bridges connecting Grand Forks and East Grand Forks.
- Electric lighting was introduced to Grand Forks.
- UND was shut down for weeks because of a diphtheria outbreak.
- The manners and morals of Grand Forks were subjected to a number of tests.
These events of 1889 were reprinted in the Herald 50 years ago in 1964, when North Dakota was 75 -- long before its 100th birthday in 1989 and the 125th anniversary this year.
Anniversaries bring back memories. The Herald has recalled that both houses of Congress had passed bills authorizing admission of several new states during January 1889. That was under threat that President-elect Benjamin Harrison would call a special session after his March 4, 1989, inauguration if the way had not been cleared earlier for the new states.
Because of differences in the two measures, they went to a conference committee.
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On Feb. 14, 1889, the way for agreement between the two chambers was cleared when the House instructed its conferees not to insist upon the admission of New Mexico.
The differences were resolved to the satisfaction of the conferees on Feb. 19, 1889.The following day the report of the conference committee was approved by the House, without division.
The Herald that day reported that as soon as the report had been approved, a “wild cry of applause arose from all sides.”
Two days later, on Washington’s birthday, President Grover Cleveland put his signature on the bill, which authorized the framing of constitutions in the four soon-to-be-admitted states. This news was received at the Capitol “with every manifestation of approval,” according to the Herald’s report from Washington.
But it was not received warmly everywhere. The Chicago News editorialized:
“At the very moment that President Cleveland signed the bill admitting four new northwestern states to the Union, a gigantic blizzard was sweeping down from the Twin Dakotas to play havoc with the tempers of sober minded people in the lower latitudes.”
And the Chicago newspaper continued to say, “The Northwest has been treated very handsomely by representatives of the states at Washington. They have been admitted to full membership of the starry sisterhood. Now they are foisting their disagreeable weather on us in a truly despicable manner.”
The territorial Legislature at Bismarck, meanwhile, was meeting stubborn resistance from territorial Gov. Louis K. Church, a Democrat whose days in office were numbered as the inauguration of the Republican president neared.
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Church was vetoing many actions of the Legislature, only to have the lawmakers override his veto in most cases.
One veto that Church made stick with the economy-minded Legislature was an appropriation for UND at Grand Forks.
On Feb. 5, 1889, the UND faculty unanimously agreed to suspend classes “for a couple weeks or so,” the Herald reported. That was because of the presence of two cases of diphtheria.
Next week: Diptheria ran rampant on the UND campus in the year of statehood.
