While doing research at a county courthouse in Dakota last week, I discovered this signage posted in the men's bathroom. The courthouse itself was constructed during the Great Depression, and perhaps the sign was posted to let returned WWII veterans know that there is a cure for those French diseases...
Note: even the health department spelled "Bismark" wrong. The name comes from the Prussian Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck.
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2 comments:
How come they picked the name Bismarck? The man was not pupular with the French, after he whupped them. So I take there are not too many Frenchmen in the Dakotas, yes?
In the early 1870s, the railroad decided to change the name of Edwinton to "Bismarck" in order to encourage German immigration into Dakota Territory. By that time, the former French-Canadian fur trappers were on their way out as the American West was getting sliced up into 160-acre settlements. The Pepes left. The immigrants came. And the Natives were pressed even more.
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