Bismarck Tribune Building

The Bismarck Tribune Building is significant for its interpretation of the Prairie School style of architecture, but more importantly for its association with The Bismarck Tribune, which it housed for sixty years. The Bismarck Tribune, North Dakota's oldest newspaper, has been an institution in Bismarck since the first issue came off a cylinder hand press on July 11, 1873. Beginning with its first issue, in which an explanatory introduction stated the purpose of the newspaper was to give the "best efforts toward building up the town," The Bismarck Tribune has been dedicated to promoting the prosperity of Bismarck and the state of North Dakota.

Colonel Clement A. Lounsberry founded The Bismarck Tribune in 1873 and was the driving force behind the newspaper until 1884. Michigan-born Lounsberry volunteered for service after outbreak of the Civil War and rose through the ranks from private to colonel by age 22. It was while Lounsberry worked as an editor for The Minneapolis Tribune in Minneapolis, Minnesota after the war, that he envisioned publishing a newspaper where the Northern Pacific Railroad would cross the Missouri River. Lounsberry arrived in Bismarck in May of 1873 to establish a three-man newspaper office just a month before the railroad reached the Missouri. Naming the newspaper The Bismarck Tribune, out of respect for The Minneapolis Tribune, Lounsberry produced a weekly newspaper until April of 1881, when it became a daily.

Lounsberry is best remembered for astounding the nation with news of the Battle of Little Big Horn in which General George A. Custer and 261 men were killed by Sioux Indians on June 25, 1876. Mark Kellogg, Lounsberry's correspondent, traveled with General Custer to exclusively cover the campaign and was one of the few civilians to die in the battle. The steamer "Far West," located on the Yellowstone River in Montana, delivered the news of the defeat to Bismarck, enabling Lounsberry to telegraph the information to The New York Herald on July 5, 1876 and to publish a special edition, "First Account of the Custer Massacre."

In 1878 Lounsberry sold the newspaper to Stanley Huntley, a young Chicago newspaperman who became known for this sharp-edged editorials; however, six months later, Lounsberry once again owned the newspaper and retained Marshall H. Jewell, Huntley's former partner, as editor. Jewell bought the newspaper from Lounsberry in 1884 when Lounsberry left Bismarck to attend to free-lance writing, editing two Fargo publications, and serving a federal appointment with the General Land Office.

Marshall H. Jewell took an active interest in the public affairs of Bismarck and campaigned nearly twelve years for North Dakota statehood to be rewarded in 1889 when North Dakota became a state with Bismarck as its capitol. Jewell wished to see the new capitol grow, and used The Bismarck Tribune to advertise the benefits of the city.