Danger in leaving townIn the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was
dangerous to leave town. When you got back, it could have become
someplace else. By: Lloyd Omdahl, The Dickinson Press In the
late 1800s and early 1900s, it was dangerous to leave town. When
you got back, it could have become someplace else. As towns were
platted and founded across the state, the names chosen by the
locals were not always acceptable. Sometimes, the railroad
company didn’t like the name; in other cases, the U.S. Post
Office Department thought it sounded too much like some name in
Minnesota or South Dakota. In any case, the name had to be
changed. Actually, most of our major cities went through this
name change trauma. Douglas Wick of Bismarck spent 10 years
tracking early place names and, in 1988, published “North Dakota
Place Names,” a 238-page book packed with brief descriptions of
3,000 place names. He followed some of these name changes. For
example, he reports that Beulah was founded in 1914 as Troy and
then later incorporate