Menoken
Menoken is a small community located eleven miles east of Bismarck near I-94 and along the Burlington Northern Railroad. Pierre de la Verendrye first visited this area in 1738. The next expedition occurred in 1863 when General Sibley and his men camped overnight near Apple Creek at Camp Stees. Menoken was founded in 1873 as seventeenth siding and went through several name changes until Menoken was adopted in 1883.
The Menoken area is quite diverse. There is still quite a lot of mixed farming and ranching. Farms are becoming bigger and many local people now work in Bismarck. A fairly large suburban area is located near and to the west of Menoken. The community has a post office, a grade school, a township hall - which is used extensively, two churches, and a campground. Menoken Grove along Apple Creek is heavily booked in the summer. Menoken Indian Village State Historic Site is located nearby.
Menoken held a very successful quasquicentennial celebration on June 21, 2008. The day started off with registration and tours at the Menoken School. A large parade which began at 10 AM wound through Menoken and the surrounding area.
After lunch all activities moved to the Burleigh County 4H Picnic Grounds (also known as Menoken Grove). A full schedule of activities was held throughout the day and into the wee hours of the following morning. The weather was perfect. We probably had at least a few thousand people attend our event. People who had not seen each other in decades became reacquainted.
We put together a DVD of the day's activities. We have these for sale for $10 each. We also have our new history book for sale. These too are $10 each. It is an excellent book and is worth much more than the sale price. In addition we still have some copies of our 1983 history book for sale for $5 apiece.
We have several other souvenir items left for sale: bells $3 each, plates and stands $3 each set, coffee mugs $3 each, some smaller T-shirts for $5 each, and beer coolies for $1 each. All of these souvenir items have the Menoken logo on them.
All of the above are available at the Menoken Post Office or contact bobneugebauer@yahoo.com for shipping information.
We held a board meeting a few weeks after our celebration. It was decided that we will use some of the proceeds from our quasquicentennial to hold a possible annual Menoken community picnic. We tentatively plan on having our first one in June of 2009 at our picnic grounds. Watch for an updqate on this.
For more information about Menoken, you may contact:
Bob Neugebauer
PO Box 4
Menoken, ND 58558
701-258-3108
bobneugebauer@yahoo.com