A railroad city that tied the northern plains to the wider world — and to the Stadum family story.
Known as the "Magic City" for the speed of its growth as a railroad town in the late 1880s, Minot was a vital junction on the Great Northern Railway. For the Stadum family living in Benson County and Rugby, Minot represented the larger urban hub — where families traveled for machinery, hospital visits, and westbound rail connections across the northern tier of North Dakota.
Minot's most direct tie to the Stadum archive is the Norsk Høstfest — Scandinavia's largest festival in North America, held each October at the Minot State Fair Grounds. In 1986, Palmer Stadum brought his hand-built model locomotive to the festival and was photographed with Princess Astrid of Norway, one of the most documented moments in the entire family archive.
The city sits in Ward County along the Souris River valley, roughly 90 miles west of Rugby along US-2 — the northern highway that bound the towns of the Great Plains together. Minot was the destination for commerce, connection, and, occasionally, royalty.