The town defeated Gladstone and Belfield for county seat in 1884, and the same year saw its development as a forwarding point for freight to the booming Black Hills gold fields. On April 15 alone, more than 220,000 lbs. of freight destined for the Hills were received at Dickinson.
In 1886 the Dickinson Press reported: "The first Fourth of July celebration attempted in Dickinson took place last Monday. It exceeded the anticipation of all and proved to be a grand success—a day that will long be remembered. The day dawned bright and cool. Early in the morning people began to arrive and by ten o'clock the largest crowd ever assembled in Stark County lined the principal streets. The train from the west brought a number of Medora people. Amongst them was Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, the orator of the day. The celebration consisted of: A Parade, Addresses by Hon. Theodore Roosevelt and Hon. John A. Rae, Races, Fire Works, and a dance in the evening."
Russo-German immigrants seeking homes in this country were early attracted to Dickinson by the Catholic mission established there by Bishop Martin Marty of St. Paul, and today the southern part of the city is a Russo-German settlement, almost a town within a town. Although the younger generation is Americanized, the older women still wear old-fashioned, long, dark dresses, and cover their heads with dark scarfs or tuecher. There are halls for social functions, and for the gala wedding dances which often last several days.
The $2,000,000 plant of the Dickinson Fire and Pressed Brick Co. (open) adjoins the city on the S. The plant, which has a capacity of 20,000 bricks daily, utilizes the various clays found in the company's 200 acres along the Heart River. Fine pottery is also manufactured. Among the clays used is a rare plastic clay which is worked into sewer pipe and fire brick, and produces a fine buff shade for facing bricks. In addition there are clays, semi-shales, and red clays that are worked into old red sandstone, red, and terra cotta shades for facing.
In the northern part of the city are the Dickinson Country Club (golf), Whitney Swimming Pool (open June-Sept.; nominal fee), and Athletic Field (gridiron, baseball diamond, running track, and tennis courts), and Rocky Butte Park (picnicking).
Atop a knoll on 10th Ave. W. is the campus of the Dickinson State Normal School. Its buildings, in English Tudor style, constructed of Hebron brick with white sandstone trim, were not occupied until 1924, although classes were held in the Dickinson Elks building as early as 1918. On the top floor of May Hall is a natural history museum.
Left (S) from Dickinson on ND 22 to a U. S. Department of Commerce intermediate AIRPORT, 6 m.
At 303.5 m, is a junction with a graveled road.
Right on this road to the DICKINSON SUBSTATION AND NORTH DAKOTA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, 2 m. Here, under State and Federal supervision, experiments are conducted in fruit production, dry land farming, and the raising of forage and cereal crops.