Pembina () is a city in Pembina County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 512 at the 2020 census. Pembina is located south of the Canada–US border.

Interstate 29 Interstate 29 (I-29) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern United States. I-29 runs from Kansas City, Missouri, at a junction with I-35 and I-70, to the Canada–US border near Pembina, North Dakota, where it connects with Manitoba ...

passes on the western side of Pembina, leading north to the Canada–US border at Emerson, Manitoba and south to the cities of Grand Forks and Fargo. The Pembina–Emerson Border Crossing is the busiest between Surrey–Blaine, and Windsor–Detroit, and the fifth busiest along the Canada-United States border. It is one of three 24-hour

ports of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. Internati ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

, the others being Portal and Dunseith. The Noyes–Emerson East Border Crossing, located to the east on the

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

side of the Red River, also processed cross-border traffic until its closure in 2006. The area of Pembina was long inhabited by various Indigenous peoples. At the time of 16th century French exploration and fur trading, historical Native American tribes included the

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan languages, Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of ...

(

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

, as the French called them), the Chippewa (Ojibwe), and the

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

. The British/Canadian

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

(HBC) established a fur-trading post on the site of present-day Pembina in 1797, and it is the oldest European-American community in the Dakotas.History of Pembina
- City of Pembina website The first permanent HBC-sponsored settlement in Pembina started in 1812. Prior to the

Treaty of 1818 The Convention respecting fisheries, boundary and the restoration of slaves, also known as the London Convention, Anglo-American Convention of 1818, Convention of 1818, or simply the Treaty of 1818, is an international treaty signed in 1818 betw ...

, Pembina was in

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (), or Prince Rupert's Land (), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin. The right to "sole trade and commerce" over Rupert's Land was granted to Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), based a ...

, the HBC's trading territory. The treaty transferred the Red River Valley south of the 49th parallel to the United States, but until 1823, both the United States and the British authorities believed Pembina was north of the 49th and therefore still in Rupert's Land. That year

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Major Stephen H. Long's survey of the 49th parallel revealed Pembina's location to be just south of the Rupert's Land–United States border. Pembina was officially founded in 1843. In 1851, the US established its first post office in present-day North Dakota in Pembina. Pembina was the most populous place in North Dakota according to the 1860 census. Pembina served as county seat from 1867 to 1911, being designated as a town in 1885.

Namesake

The name ''Pembina'' derives from an

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

word for '' Viburnum edule'', a bushy plant with bright red berries which grows in the area. Nineteenth-century journal-writers and observers translated the word as "summer berry" or "high cranberry".

History

The Pembina area was historically at the borders of the territories of the

, the Chippewa, and the

, American Indian tribes, who competed for hegemony. Their conflict increased beginning with the French introduction of firearms in the late 17th century as part of their goods traded for furs. The first known European] visitors to the Pembina region were the French Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye, La Vérendrye family in the early 18th century. Pembina's recorded history of European encounter extended for more than 200 years. Started by the French as a

fur trading The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

post for commerce with Native Americans, it was also tied to trade for

plains bison The plains bison (''Bison bison bison'') is one of two subspecies/ecotypes of the American bison, the other being the wood bison (''B. b. athabascae''). A natural population of plains bison survives in Yellowstone National Park (the Yellowstone P ...

. European trappers who hunted in the

Red River of the North The Red River (), also called the Red River of the North () to differentiate it from the Red River of the South, Red River in the south of the continent, is a river in the north-central United States and central Canada. Originating at the confl ...

area frequently married Native women and often lived with local tribes at least part of the year. Their descendants became part of their hunting and trapping culture, and formed the ethnic group recognized in Canada as

Métis people 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 hav ...

. The settlement was associated with the histories of French Canada, the

North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...

(NWC), the

(HBC), the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assiniboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay ...

, Battle of Seven Oaks, the

Red River Rebellion The Red River Rebellion (), also known as the Red River Resistance, Red River uprising, or First Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by Métis leader Louis Riel and his f ...

Assiniboia Assiniboia District refers to two historical districts of Canada's Northwest Territories. The name is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation. Historical usage ''For more information on the history of the provisional districts, see also Distric ...

, and

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 ...

. Through much of the nineteenth century, Métis families used the two-wheeled Red River ox cart trains to travel into the Great Plains, where the men would hunt bison and women would process the meat, skins, and bones. All parts were used for clothing, tepees, etc. Their regular trade routes became known as the

Red River Trails The Red River Trails were a network of Red River ox cart, ox cart routes connecting the Red River Colony (the "Selkirk Settlement") and Fort Garry in Canada under British Imperial control (1764-1867), British North America with the head of naviga ...

. This area was part of the United States' Dakota and

territories; and Canada–US border politics.

Fort Pembina trading posts

*Peter Grant of the North West Company, between 1784 and 1789, built a post on the east side of the Red River. It had disappeared by 1801. * In 1797, Jean Baptiste Chaboillez of the

built a post on the south bank of the Pembina in what is now Pembina State Park. * From 1800 to 1805, the

XY Company The XY Company, also known as the New North West Company, was a joint-stock fur trading enterprise based in Montreal that conducted business chiefly in the Canadian Northwest between 1798 and 1804. * In 1801, Alexander Henry the younger, also of the North West Company, built a post on the north bank across from Chaboillez's post. He remained in charge until 1808. It was absorbed by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821. * By 1793, the Hudson's Bay Company had a small post (seemingly called Fort Skene) on the east side on the Red River. It was rebuilt in 1801. By 1805, most of the local beaver had been exterminated. Pembina was the traditional rendezvous for the Métis buffalo hunt. It was also a center for illicit trade with the United States. The HBC post operated until at least 1870, even though it was known to be south of the border. * In 1812, Selkirk settlers from the

built Fort Daer on the Chaboillez site. * In the 1820s, David Thompson determined that Pembina was south of the 49th parallel, and therefore had been transferred to the United States from British

by the

. * In the 1840s, Norman Kittson of the

American Fur Company The American Fur Company (AFC) was a prominent American company that sold furs, skins, and buffalo robes. It was founded in 1808 by John Jacob Astor, a German Americans, German immigrant to the United States. During its heyday in the early 19th c ...

had an establishment. *In September 1872, a joint Canadian and American boundary survey commission met in Pembina where they over-wintered before setting off in the spring of 1873 to survey and mark the Canada-U.S. border along the 49th parallel. Red River cart repair

Fort Pembina

Due to the unrest among Native Americans of the

Red River Valley The Red River Valley is a region in central North America that is drained by the Red River of the North; it is part of both Canada and the United States. Forming the border between Minnesota and North Dakota when these territories were admitted ...

after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, the

Minnesota Legislature The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected from 67 single-member districts. In order to account for decenn ...

petitioned

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

to build a fort, especially to defend against incursions by the Lakota (Sioux), some of whom had migrated to

to evade the US Army. As a result, Major General

Winfield Scott Hancock Winfield Scott Hancock (February 14, 1824 – February 9, 1886) was a United States Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service ...

recommended the establishment of the post on December 8, 1869; Fort Pembina was completed on July 8, 1870. Located south of the settlement, it was just above the mouth of the Pembina River. It was originally called Fort Thomas, for Major General George Henry Thomas, who died on March 28, 1870. The post was designated as Fort Pembina on September 6, 1870. Seriously damaged by fire on May 27, 1895, it was abandoned on August 16, 1895. It was later sold at public auction.Forts in the Dakota Territory
Frohne & Son Historic Military, Accessed December 8, 2010

Métis in Pembina

The Métis had a very strong connection with Pembina during the 19th century. Individual and groups of bison hunters and goods traders were based in Pembina. In 1818, with the help of Father Dumoulin, the Roman Catholic Church created a mission in Pembina with the goal of converting buffalo hunters and other Native Americans to Catholicism. The records show a clear engagement among the Métis with Catholicism; Father Dumoulin baptised 394 people before the closure of the mission in 1823, and Assomption Catholic Church recorded 166 burials between 1848 and 1892 (with 147 being either French or English/Scottish Métis.)

Recent history

In 1962,

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

based coach bus manufacturer Motor Coach Industries opened its U.S. assembly line in Pembina. Pembina was officially designated as a city in 1967. The noted American author

Louise Erdrich Karen Louise Erdrich ( ; born June 7, 1954) is an American author of novels, poetry, and children's books featuring Native American characters and settings. She is an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dako ...

has represented the Pembina River and the Pembina Band of the Ojibwe Indians on the Turtle Mountain Reservation in numerous works of fiction. In the past several books, the Pembina have celebrated their unique heritage. Despite its small size, Pembina maintained a television station, KCND-TV channel 12, from 1960 to 1975. The station was a

border blaster A border blaster is a broadcast station that, though not licensed as an external service (broadcasting), external service, is, in practice, used to target another country. The term "border blaster" is of North American origin, and usually ass ...

primarily targeting

from as close to the border as possible; when

simultaneous substitution Simultaneous substitution (also known as simsubbing or signal substitution) is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requiring pay television, broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) in ...

rules took effect in the early 1970s, Canadian interests bought the intellectual property of the station and relocated it to Winnipeg, where it was relicensed by the Canadian government as

CKND-TV CKND-DT (channel 9) is a television station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. The station is owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, with studios on the 30th floor of 201 Portage in downtow ...

channel 9, and has operated there ever since. Channel 12 in Pembina was rechristened in 1986 as KNRR, a satellite of

KVRR KVRR (channel 15) is a television station in Fargo, North Dakota, United States, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. Owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company, the station maintains studios on South 40th Street an ...

Fargo. Its population in federal censuses has never exceeded 1,000. Motor Coach Industries had planned to close its Pembina factory in late 2022 after moving production to parent company

NFI Group NFI Group Inc. is a Canadian multinational Bus manufacturing, bus manufacturer, based in Winnipeg, Canada. The company employs 8,500 people across 50 facilities in nine countries. NFI Group owns Alexander Dennis, ARBOC Specialty Vehicles, Motor ...

's plant in Crookston, Minnesota, but reversed their decision in November 2023.

Geography

Pembina is in the far northeastern corner of the North Dakota, at the confluence of the

and the Pembina River. The city of St. Vincent, Minnesota, lies adjacent to the east, across the Red River. The town of Emerson, Manitoba, lies just north of the city on the other side of the international border. 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. Pembina experiences a dry winter

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 ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dwb'').

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 592 people, 237 households, and 156 families residing 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 279 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.1%

European American European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

, 0.5%

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 ...

, 0.3% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 1.4% from other races, and 2.7% 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 237 households, of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.4% 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, 5.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 34.2% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.17. The median age in the city was 40.6 years. 26.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.4% were from 25 to 44; 29.9% were from 45 to 64; and 14.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.3% male and 51.7% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 642 people, 250 households, and 177 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 274 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 96.57%

, 0.16%

, 0.47% Native American, 0.47% Asian, 1.56% from other races, and 0.78% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 1.87% of the population. There were 250 households, out of which 35.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.8% were

living together, 5.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.8% were non-families. 26.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.12. In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.4% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $55,536, and the median income for a family was $59,722. Males had a median income of $35,250 versus $26,125 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 $20,278. About 4.5% of families and 7.7% 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 12.1% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over.

Sites of interest

* Dumoulin Mission and Cemetery Site, located north of Pembina along north-bound Interstate 29. * Fort Daer Landing And Recreation Area. * Grace Episcopal Church (Pembina, North Dakota) * Pembina State Museum - interpretative exhibits commemorating establishment of Pembina in 1797 as the earliest European settlement in what is now the state of North Dakota. * Pembina State Park - a protected area at the confluence of the Red and Pembina Rivers. * Icelandic Evangelical Lutheran Church * United States Customs House and Post Office – Pembina

References

External links

City of Pembina official website

St. Vincent Memories
- Includes significant history of Pembina
History of Pembina
- city website
Pioneer Women's Histories : Pembina
from th
Digital Horizons website
{{authority control Cities in Pembina County, North Dakota Cities in North Dakota Populated places established in 1812 Hudson's Bay Company trading posts North West Company forts