Eloise Ogden/MDN The Statehood Star is displayed in the North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum in Bismarck. North Dakota became a state on Nov. 2, 1889. North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington all joined the Union as new states in November 1889, after years of being territories.

BISMARCK – At 3:40 p.m. ET, on Nov. 2, 1889, President Harrison signed the Proclamation of Admission for North Dakota and South Dakota. The president shuffled the paperwork and signed the documents blindly, so it is not known which state’s documents were signed first.

Now a state historical site and the state’s oldest surviving courthouse, the Stutsman County Courthouse is considered the birthplace of statehood because it was there where meetings were first held in 1885 to discuss the division of Dakota Territory. A Constitutional Convention with 75 delegates was held in Bismarck from July 4 to Aug. 17, 1889.

Then, on Oct. 1, 1889, with only men allowed to vote, the new constitution was approved with 77% of the 35,548 votes cast in favor of statehood. The population of the state was approximately 190,000.

On the ballot at the same time was an article related to the prohibition of alcoholic beverages. It was approved on a vote of 18,552 (51.6%) to 17,393 (48.4%). North Dakota remained a legally dry state until a 1932 referendum abolished state prohibition laws. The sale of hard liquor was banned until another referendum was passed in 1936.