Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States. With a population of 48,377 at the 2020 census, Minot is the state's fourth-most populous city. The Minot metropolitan area in north-central North Dakota covers McHenry, Renville, and Ward counties and had a combined population of 77,546 at the 2020 census.
Minot was founded in 1886 during the construction of James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway. Minot is also known as "Magic City", commemorating its remarkable growth in size over a short time. It is a trading center for a large part of northern North Dakota, southwestern Manitoba, and southeastern Saskatchewan. It is most widely known for the Minot Air Force Base, approximately north of the city.
History
Minot came into existence in 1886, after the Great Northern Railway laid track through the area. A tent town sprang up overnight, as if by "magic", giving Minot its first nickname, the Magic City; in the next five months, the population increased to over 5,000, further bolstering the nickname. The town site was chosen by the railroad to be placed on the land of homesteader Erik Ramstad, who was convinced to relinquish his claim and became one of the city leaders. The town was named after Henry Minot (1859–1890), a Great Northern investor, ornithologist, and friend of Hill. Its Arikara name is niwaharít sahaáhkat, and its Hidatsa name is maagada'ashish ("Plum Coulee").
The city was incorporated on July 16, 1887. The Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (Soo Line) later built a line from Valley City to Canada. While initially their plan was to cross the Souris River at Burlington, local interests and arguments convinced them otherwise; landholders along the new route donated the right-of-way, and the Soo Line reached Minot in 1893.
In 1898, a tornado destroyed the timber Gassman Coulee Bridge near Minot. A passenger train, just three minutes away from crossing the bridge when it collapsed, was able to stop just in time to avoid disaster. Until a new trestle, this time made of steel, was built in 1899, the railroad ferried passengers across the coulee using wagons and buggies that transported them to another train parked on the other side of the coulee.
On July 22, 1920, a tornado passed over Minot and bore down in a coulee southeast of town. The tornado picked up Andy Botz's home and hurled it to the ground, killing his wife, breaking Botz's shoulder, and slightly injuring the two Botz children who were in the house.
Minot and its surrounding area were wide open from 1905 to 1920. The population grew rapidly due to railroad construction and availability of unclaimed land. Nearly complete court records of Ward County and Minot document the prevalence and different types of criminal activity, and offer strong support for the epithet "crime capitol of North Dakota". State attorney general William Langer helped clean up the town in 1917–1920, but by the time Prohibition arrived in the 1920s, Minot had become a center of illegal activities associated with the High Third district, exacerbated because the city was a supply hub of Al Capone's liquor smuggling operations. The hotbed of alcohol bootlegging, prostitution, and opium dens that sprang up in the downtown area soon led people to nickname Minot "Little Chicago". Smugglers used a network of tunnels (some previously built for heating or deliveries) to transport and conceal illicit cargo entering from Canada.Michael J. Martin and Glenn H. Smith, "Vice and Violence in Ward County, North Dakota, 1905–1920", North Dakota History, 1980, Vol. 47, Issue 2, pp. 10–21
The 1950s saw a large influx of federal funding into the region, with the construction of Minot Air Force Base (1956–1957) north of the city, and Garrison Dam (1947–1953) on the Missouri River, about south. In 1969, a severe flood on the Souris River devastated Minot in April. Afterward, the Army Corps of Engineers straightened the river's path through the city and built several flood control structures.
On January 18, 2002, a severe train derailment west of the city sent a gigantic cloud of anhydrous ammonia toward Minot and Burlington. One man died and many of Minot's citizens were sickened and severely injured by the gas, causing one of the worst major chemical accidents of the country. In early 2006, court cases were heard in Minneapolis, Minnesota, against Canadian Pacific Railway, the owner of the derailed train. The anhydrous ammonia spill was the largest such spill in U.S. history. Eric Klinenberg used the incident in his book Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America's Media as an example of the failure of mass media, specifically local radio stations, to disseminate information in an emergency.
The 2011 Souris River flood caused extensive damage throughout the Souris River Valley. On June 21, 2011, KXMC-TV reported that a flood of historic proportions was imminent in the valley, largely due to large dam releases upstream. Around 12,000 people were evacuated. On June 26, flooding exceeded previous records when the river crested at above sea level, above the previous record set in 1881. It is estimated that 20% of Minot sustained damage from the flood; this figure includes over 4,100 homes that were in some way affected, 2,376 extensively damaged, and 805 damaged beyond repair. Burlington was also severely damaged during this time.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and is water. Minot is on the Drift Prairie of northwestern North Dakota, about north of Bismarck. The Mouse River, or Souris River, runs through the city from west to east. Minot is almost entirely land; the Mouse River, its oxbow lakes, and a few creeks take up just 0.14% of the city's area.
The Mouse River divides the city approximately in half, north and south. The valley rises to the plains both north and south of the river. Although there are names for certain features of these hills, such as Anthony Hill on South Hill, there are no general names for these topographical features. The northern rise and the plateau north of it are called North Hill and the southern rise and plateau south of it are called South Hill.
The elevation of the river at the city center is approximately above sea level. The valley sits below the surrounding plains; the elevation at the Minot International Airport on North Hill is . The city has several small horseshoe-shaped oxbow lakes within its limits near the river, created by the Mouse's meandering course.
The population of Richardson's ground squirrels is extremely high in the inner-city area where there are fewer predators to hunt them. This has been known to cause issues with the squirrels tearing up fields with their tunneling, and causing minor property damage by hollowing out areas beneath structures.
Neighborhoods
Minot is commonly divided into three major sections: North Hill, the Mouse River Valley and South Hill. North Hill is the area roughly north of Eleventh Avenue North and Northwest Avenue. South Hill is a broad area south and west of Valley Street and Fifth Avenue South. West of Sixth Street West, South Hill dips sharply to the southwest. South Hill's limits are less clearly defined than North Hill's. Though the neighborhood levels out past 16th Street South, the name South Hill is generally applied to all areas south up to the city limits. Neighborhoods in the Mouse River Valley include Bel Air, Downtown, Eastwood Park, Oak Park and West Minot.
Address system The city is laid out on a grid-based street system. Streets run north–south and avenues run east–west. Streets are numbered by their block distance east or west of Main Street. Avenues are numbered north and south of Central Avenue. There are four city quadrants (NW, SW, SE, NE) to designate the location of any address. Main Street addresses are designated North and South. Central Avenue addresses are designated East and West. The grid system carries over into the rural areas of Ward County, making the county one of only three that do not follow the statewide grid system (the others are Burleigh County and Grand Forks County).
Climate
Minot experiences a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb). Like Central Asia, it exhibits great temperature variation. Summers range from warm to moderately hot, with frequent thunderstorm activity. Winters are typically bitterly cold and snowy, with high winds and below-freezing temperatures for weeks at a time. Lows below occur on about 39 days during the winter, while temperatures reach on 14 days per summer, and in some years reach . The average annual snowfall total is .
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition +Minot, North Dakota – racial and ethnic composition Race / ethnicity (NH = non-Hispanic) Pop.2000 Pop.2010 % 2000 % 2010 White alone (NH) 33,798 36,29437,619 92.43% 88.76%77.76%Black or African American alone (NH) 471 8802,404 1.29% 2.15%4.97%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 979 1,2441,293 2.68% 3.04%2.67%Asian alone (NH) 225 358886 0.62% 0.88%1.83%Pacific Islander alone (NH) 19 3689 0.05% 0.09%0.18%Other race alone (NH) 15 20157 0.04% 0.05%0.32%Mixed race or multiracial (NH) 521 9392,623 1.42% 2.30%5.42%Hispanic or Latino (any race) 539 1,1173,306 1.47% 2.73%6.83%Total 36,567 40,88848,377 100.00% 100.00%100.00%
2020 census As of the 2020 census, there were 48,377 people, 21,152 households, and 11,385 families residing in the city. The median age was 32.9 years. 22.8% of residents were under the age of 18, 6.3% were under 5, and 14.0% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 102.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 102.3 males age 18 and over.
About 99.9% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.1% lived in rural areas.
Of these households, 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 39.3% were married-couple households, 25.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 23,447 housing units, of which 9.8% were vacant; the population density was , and housing units averaged . The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.5% and the rental vacancy rate was 10.7%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number PercentWhite 38,548 79.7%Black or African American 2,503 5.2%American Indian and Alaska Native 1,398 2.9%Asian 910 1.9%Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 93 0.2%Some other race 983 2.0%Two or more races 3,942 8.1%Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 3,306 6.8%
2010 census As of the 2010 census, there were 40,888 people, 17,863 households, and 9,978 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 18,744 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 90.16% White, 2.28% African American, 3.25% Native American, 0.92% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 0.64% from some other races, and 2.65% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.73% of the population.
There were 17,863 households, of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.1% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 44.1% were non-families. Of all households 34.9% were made up of individuals, and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.86.