Bottineau is a city in
Bottineau County, North Dakota, United States. It is the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of Bottineau County
and is located just over south of the
Canada–United States border
The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...
. The city's population was 2,194 at the
2020 census.
The city is home to
Dakota College at Bottineau. Attractions in Bottineau include the
Bottineau Winter Park and "Tommy Turtle," the world's largest turtle, which has become a landmark for the city. Built in 1978 and in height, the fiberglass turtle is located in the eastern half of the city and was built as a symbol for the nearby
Turtle Mountains. The
International Peace Garden is nearby to the northeast.
Bottineau is also home to Programmer's Broadcasting, which owns and operates
KBTO, along with
KTZU and
KWGO in
Minot.
History

Bottineau was founded in 1883 as Oak Creek as a customs station and an overnight stagecoach stop. The town name was changed to Bottineau in 1884 in honor of
Pierre Bottineau a
Métis
The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...
pioneer, hunter, and trapper, who became a successful land speculator.
The town was originally located about 1½ miles (2½ km) north of its current location. The entire town was moved south in 1887 to where the
Great Northern Railway was installing new tracks.
The widest tornado on record in North Dakota, at 1.14 miles wide, dropped near Bottineau in 1986.
It destroyed a mobile home but did not harm the pregnant woman who was inside.
In 2012, a new chalet called Annie's House was built in Bottineau Winter Park, north. The facility was North Dakota's first ski facility for handicapped children and wounded veterans. It was built to honor Ann Nicole Nelson, who was the only North Dakotan to die in the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
on the
World Trade Center in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
Geography and climate
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the city has a total area of , all land.
The
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...
is above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...
.
Bottineau has a
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
(
Koppen Koppen is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Dan Koppen (born 1979), American football offensive lineman
* (1929–1990), German literary scholar
* (1855–1922), German author
* Otto C. Koppen (1901–1991), American aircraf ...
: Dfb) with four seasons and huge differences in temperatures throughout the year. Summers tend to be warm, sometimes hot, and winters are severely cold. On February 13, 2021, the record low temperature of was registered.
[
]
Law and government
Bottineau uses the city council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...
style of municipal government. Citizens are divided by location into four wards, who each elect two city council members, for a total of eight.
The current president of the city council is Doug Marsden and the current mayor of the city is Perry Schoenborn. The city council meets on the first Monday of every month in the city's Armory.
Economy
The economy in Bottineau is based on agriculture and recreational activities.
The city's commercial district consists mainly of small local shops, but a Wal-Mart Supercenter store is now operating within Bottineau; some consider this unusual for a town of such a small size. Bottineau is also home to the Bottineau County Fair, which is the state's oldest county fair.
Demographics
2010 census
As of the census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2010, there were 2,211 people, 972 households, and 538 families living in the city. The population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 1,085 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.4% White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.7% African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 4.1% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 2.2% from two or more races. Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 1.4% of the population.
There were 972 households, of which 23.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.5% were married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 44.7% were non-families. 41.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.02 and the average family size was 2.71.
The median age in the city was 44.9 years. 18.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 13.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 18.4% were from 25 to 44; 25.1% were from 45 to 64; and 24.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.8% male and 51.2% female.
2000 census
As of the census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 2,336 people, 979 households, and 550 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 1,114 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.25% White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.34% African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 2.87% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.09% from other races, and 1.07% from two or more races. Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 0.98% of the population.
There were 979 households, out of which 24.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.6% were married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 6.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.8% were non-families. 41.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 24.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.86.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 19.0% under the age of 18, 14.2% from 18 to 24, 18.9% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 27.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $29,022, and the median income for a family was $40,938. Males had a median income of $29,286 versus $20,089 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the city was $16,530. About 5.4% of families and 10.9% of the population were below the poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 16.0% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.
Education
K–12
Bottineau Public Schools, the local school district, operates one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school.
Higher education
* Dakota College at Bottineau
Media
*''Newspapers''
''The Bottineau Courant'' is a weekly publication.
*''Radio''
KBTO Sunny 101.9 is a local FM station offering local weather, sports, advertisement and country music. A few other stations are available from nearby Manitoba
Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...
such as BOUNCE 96.1 which is an "80's 90's, and 00’s" mix station from Brandon, MB, Canada.
Notable people
* Duane Klueh, basketball player and coach; head coach for Indiana State men's basketball team
* Ryan Kraft, left wing hockey player with the German Kassel Huskies
* Gregory R. Page, president and CEO of Cargill
Cargill, Incorporated is an American multinational food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865 by William Wallace Cargill, it is the largest privately held c ...
Inc.
* Ronald Paulson, English professor, expert on William Hogarth
William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...
works
* Neal Peterson, musician
* Tom Rapp
Thomas Dale Rapp (March 8, 1947 – February 11, 2018) was an American singer and songwriter who led Pearls Before Swine (band), Pearls Before Swine, an influential psychedelic music, psychedelic folk rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s ...
, leader of the band Pearls Before Swine
Notes
External links
City of Bottineau official website
Bottineau Chamber of Commerce
{{Authority control
Cities in Bottineau County, North Dakota
Cities in North Dakota
County seats in North Dakota
Populated places established in 1887
1887 establishments in Dakota Territory