Person
Bismarck
North Dakota (ND)est. 1872pop. 74,138/BIZ-mark/
The meaning
“Surname; 'boundary marker of Bishop's district'”
How it got the name
The Northern Pacific Railway renamed Edwinton in 1873 in a bald attempt to attract German investment capital and German settlers to the Dakota plains. The flattery aimed at the Iron Chancellor was purely commercial, and it worked well enough that the name survived into statehood as a capital.
Former names
- Edwinton
- Camp Hancock
- Bismarck