History of Bismarck, North Dakota History of Bismarck, North Dakota Bismarck is the capital of the state of North Dakota, the county seat of Burleigh County, and the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo. The city was formed in 1872 as "Edwinton" after Edwin Ferry Johnson, a chief engineer for the Northern Pacific Railway company, when the railroad reached the eastern banks of the Missouri River. The name was changed less than one year later, honoring German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, in an effort to attract German immigrants. The discovery of gold in the nearby Black Hills in 1874 was the first
North Dakota State University were 14,358 students attending NDSU from 47 different states and 79 different countries as of Fall 2017. The university also operates the state agricultural research extension centers spread across the state on over 18,488 acres (75 km²). NDSU is part of the North Dakota University System. It is one of the largest universities in the State of North Dakota. In 2015, NDSU's economic impact on the state and region was estimated to be $1.3 billion a year according to the NDUS Systemwide Economic Study by the School of Economics at North Dakota State University. It was the fifth-largest employer in