On this date in 1922, Governor Rangvold Nestos pushed a button that officially started the machinery of the soon-to-be-completed North Dakota Mill and Elevator. The mill was located in downtown Grand Forks and is, to this day, the only state-owned elevator in the nation.

Prior to the building of the mill, North Dakota farmers were at the mercy of Minneapolis corporate interests, including the grain exchange and flourmills. North Dakota grain had to be shipped east by train, and by the time all costs were deducted, farmers barely broke even. Then, when the flour was shipped back to the state from these mills, it was over-priced. But, consumers had few alternatives – until the Non-Partisan League gained control of the state government and fought Eastern monopolies by building a state-owned facility.

Source: Robinson, Elwyn. History of North Dakota. Fargo: Institute for Regional Studies, 1995. p 381-82.

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