Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE: CLR), has donated $1.8 million to sponsor the North Dakota Inspiration Gallery for the expansion of the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck. The new gallery will interpret North Dakota's innovators, opportunities and inspirations.
North Dakota's Touchstone Energy Cooperatives have combined to donate $1.3 million for the expansion of the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck. In honor of their gift, a new gallery featuring traveling exhibits will be named the Touchstone Energy Cooperative Governors Gallery.
A full-scale Tyrannosaurus Rex model to old war-time guns are just some of the items that are planned to be on display when the expanded North Dakota Heritage Center is completed in 2014. The expansion will include three new galleries, a 3-D theater and more space to store artifacts as well as 5,000 square feet to house traveling "blockbuster" galleries from around the world, officials at the center said last week. The center's current auditorium also will undergo a renovation to increase access for the disabled.
A new edition of the award-winning Passport to North Dakota History, a traveler's guide to North Dakota historic sites, has been republished for another North Dakota tourist season with a $25,000 donation from Tesoro. Complementing the Passport this year is the new State Historical Society of North Dakota's History on Call program, which offers sound bites to travelers about the historic sites included in the Passport.
A bill appropriating $39.7 million for the expansion of the North Dakota Heritage Center was signed into law by Governor John Hoeven in the Main Gallery of the North Dakota Heritage Center on May 6.
Separate votes by the North Dakota House and Senate on Saturday, May 2, 2009 during the final hours of the 61st legislative session approved the $51.7 million expansion project for the North Dakota Heritage Center. The votes were 70-19 in the House and 45-1 in the Senate.
Enoch Thorsgard, a lifelong Northwood farmer who served in the North Dakota House of Representatives from 1969 to 1980, has been a supporter of the North Dakota Heritage Center for nearly 40 years. He championed the building of the Heritage Center as a Republican member of the House Appropriations Committee, and today at 91 years of age, he supports its expansion.
A full house gathered for the Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing Thursday morning, March 5, on the North Dakota Heritage Center expansion bill. The hearing started 15 minutes early and adjourned at noon. A diverse assortment of perspectives about the project and the need for the facility were presented.
An editorial by Ken Rogers of The Bismarck Tribune: Change has come to the wheat fields, two-lane highways and rolling pastures of North Dakota...
Bismarck-Mandan native Kirk Lanterman, now of Seattle, Washington, the chairman emeritus of the Holland America Cruise Line, visited the State Capitol during a visit to the area on January 29. Kirk and Janet Lanterman have given $500,000 to support the expansion of the North Dakota Heritage Center, and its “Settlement Era Exhibit” in the Inspiration, Opportunities and Innovation Gallery.