1930
- Wachter School expands, adding three rooms and a gymnasium
- State capitol is consumed by fire on December 28, started by spontaneous combustion from a collection of rags covered with turpentine and varnish
- J.C. Penney builds a new store
1931
- World War Memorial Building is dedicated on January 9th. The joint city-county community center was approved in 1929. The Art Deco-style building deployed the most modern construction techniques of the time. It contained the largest convention center in the state upon opening.
- First commercial airplane lands in Bismarck.
- Northwest Airways (later Norwest Airlines, now part of Delta) establishes Bismarck service. It is the longest-service airline for Bismarck, and even the sole airline provider for many years.
- State-owned streetcar line is disestablished in the aftermath of the Capitol’s destruction (February 28)
- Buttrey’s opens Bismarck store
- Pioneer Park is dedicated (July 2)
- New Burleigh County Courthouse is dedicated at 6th and Broadway on land donated by Dr. Quain (July 25).
1932
- Voters overwhelmingly defeat Jamestown’s attempt to procure the capital, keeping it in Bismarck.
- Ground is broken for new state capitol on August 13.
1933
- Capitol construction laborers strike, resulting in Governor William Langer declaring martial law
- Voters legalize the sale and manufacture of beer in September. It was the first time alcohol could legally be sold since North Dakota was admitted as a dry state in 1889, which carried over into the nationwide Prohibition beginning in 1920.
1934
- New State Capitol completes construction (occupied January 1935)
- Schultz Creamery is founded
- Governor William “Wild Bill” Langer is found guilty on two felony convictions, and forced from office.
- “MaNDan” letter billboard is placed atop Crying Hill facing south. It involved 12 gallons of paint and 47 truckloads of stone, mostly broken pavement taken from the widening of 6th Avenue NW. The sign was relocated to the hill’s northeast side facing Interstate 94 in 1987, replacing the original stone with enforced concrete taken from roof beams of the former Mandan Pioneer building.
1935
- New State Capitol is occupied (January)
- New Bismarck High School building opens on September 10, and the junior high is moved into the former high school building.
- Vantine Paint & Glass opens at 313 E Main Avenue
1936
- Edward Patterson establishes The Ring – a boxing-theme bar and restaurant located at 117 N 5th Street.
- November: Mandan Theater opens at 210 West Main Street. It later becomes Showboat Cinema.
1937
- Shark’s Men’s Store opens
- Federal Building completes an addition that roughly doubles its size (October).
- North Dakota’s National Guard acquires the former Indian School site.
1938
- Bismarck Tribune wins Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles called “Self-Help in the Dustbowl”
1939
- Bismarck Junior College is established, occupying the top floor of Bismarck High School
- Piggly Wiggly opens in Bismarck (becomes SuperValu in 1949)
- Speed limits implemented for first time in Bismarck, but only on certain streets – Main Avenue listed at 25 MPH between 9th & Washington Streets and range between 30 & 40 MPH between 12th & 26th Streets
- First traffic signal is installed at 9th Street & Main Avenue
