Home › Cities › State Capitals
Bismarck
Capital of North Dakota, on the Missouri River
Bismarck stands on the east bank of the Missouri River in the rolling plains of central North Dakota, across the water from its sister city Mandan. Founded in the 1870s as the Northern Pacific Railway pushed west, it was named for the German chancellor in hopes of attracting German investment and railroad capital. The river crossing made it a natural hub, and it became the territorial capital in 1883 and state capital at statehood in 1889.
The Missouri River, the great artery of the northern plains, divides the metro and once carried steamboats and fur traders. East of the river the land is gently rolling prairie and farmland — to the west it grows drier and rougher toward the Badlands. A tall art-deco capitol tower, the "Skyscraper of the Prairie," rises over a small city on the open plains.