Harmon, ND

Harmon is a Morton County census-designated place 10 miles north of Mandan and 15 miles northwest of Bismarck. Its 2020 population was 259. The town was sited on July 23, 1913, by Willis T. McConnell and named for brothers George and H. H. Harmon. Depression-era decline nearly erased the original town, whose site lies along the western edge of the Missouri River floodplain. Current homes sit higher, above the river bluffs, so the community has two distinct geographic pieces: an older townsite below and a later settlement on the upland.

Harmon Lake gives the surrounding area its present-day recreation center. The reservoir lies along Highway 1806 and County Road 140, about eight miles north of Mandan, with a public boat ramp, fishing pier, camping, swimming, and a 13.1-mile mountain-biking and hiking trail. The recreation area is separate from Harmon's historic core but close enough to shape how people use the surrounding landscape. Education runs through Mandan Public Schools, and the remaining cemetery at the old townsite keeps the 1913 settlement visible even after its first commercial center disappeared.