Dakota Datebook: Wyndmere

The Northern Pacific Railroad townsite of Wyndmere was established in 1883. It was named for Windermere Lake, Westmorelandshire, England, whose name is derived from "wynd," meaning a narrow lane, and "mere," meaning pool or lake . . . Wyndmere!

The post office was established January 7, 1884, and the Soo Line Railroad crossed the Northern Pacific tracks there in 1888, at which time a new place dubbed East Wyndmere popped up. Well, a couple of years later, most of the Wyndmere buildings had been moved to the new site which adopted the old name and incorporated as a village in 1902.

The village wouldn't be officially incorporated as a city until March 31, 1959. Known at one time as the "Corn Capitol of North Dakota," Wyndmere reached its peak population of 664 in 1960.

This Dakota Datebook written by Merrill Piepkorn.

"Dakota Datebook" is a radio series from Prairie Public in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota and with funding from Humanities North Dakota. See all the Dakota Datebooks at prairiepublic.org, subscribe to the "Dakota Datebook" podcast, or buy the Dakota Datebook book at shopprairiepublic.org."