North Dakota Small Town Histories (elementary school, things to do, rating)

[SDTraveler]

I need some help and advise. I am researching the towns in North Dakota and having a problem finding history of the towns that have populations of 1,000 or less. These towns don't usually have a Chamber of Commerce that I can call. If anyone knows of some books or ND service that can provide this type of information, I would certainly appreciate it.

[TravisW]

Most small towns publish histories, usually including area family histories, when they are celebrating notable anniversaries (city centennial, for example). Church congregations sometimes do the same thing. If I was in your situation, I would contact a nearby newspaper. At the very least, you can get contact information for somebody who would have that information.

Are there any specific communities that you are researching?

[SDTraveler]

First I need to explain what I do I am one of the writers and producers of a travel map website and travel disk. The company has just finished with the state of South Dakota, or at least my part of it, and we are starting work on Nebraska, Wyoming and North Dakota. We took 12 highways that ran border to border in South Dakota and each and every town on those highways (tiny,small and large) and wrote a brief history on the town, took a downtown picture and on the travel disk listed all the businesses that would provide a service for a traveler (gas,food,sleep,events and attractions). It might be easier to understand by looking at the website, www.travelinfomap.com. It is a free site, no memberships, passwords, etc. JUST a service that is paid for by individual sponsors and some advertisers. I am absolutely not on here to sell anything. I had hoped to pick up some useful information that I can share with the world. Plus our travel disk has been picked up by elementary school teachers in South Dakota as a teaching aide to their geography classes. In answer to your question, I am looking at each town on the following ND highways: Hwy. 12 (Yellowstone Trail), Hwy. 83, Hwy. 281, Interstates 29 and 94, Lewis & Clark Trail, Hwy. 85, Hwy. 2, Hwy. 3, Hwy. 66 (RT.66), Hwy. 5, & Hwy. 52. I'm afraid the Missouri River kind of raised cane with me having an uninterupted route from border to border with a lot of the highways. It is easy for me to get the information I need on the towns if the towns are large enough to have Chamber of Commerce or Industrial Development Groups but the really small towns don't have that, or much else either. Every town has a story and we want to tell it if possible. I especially want the world to know that North Dakota is a beautiful state and full of interesting people, places to see and things to do. Any help I can get from anyone will be greatly appreciated.