Hankinson, ND

Hankinson sits in southern Richland County, about 30 miles south of Wahpeton and 60 miles south of Fargo. The 2020 census counted 921 residents. The city is surrounded by level farm country where wheat, corn, soybeans, and sunflowers share the acreage. Hankinson Public School serves roughly 250 K-12 students, giving the small city one institution that ties children and families to the same central place.

Hankinson began with a railroad race in 1886. Soo and Great Northern crews rushed to lay rails across a contested crossing, and the rivalry became tense enough that one side raised breastworks and returned with firearms. The showdown never happened, but Colonel Hankinson later planned a townsite named Fort Hankinson. Cannon, Grape, and Canister avenues, along with Grant and Sherman streets, preserve that military joke in the street grid. The post office dates to 1886, and agriculture remains the city's working base. Hankinson is a prairie town whose map still remembers the day two railroads tried to beat each other to the crossing.