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)
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)
“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.
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