Rugby (North Dakota)

Grand Forks County

38-68860

Rugby is a city in North Dakota with 2939 inhabitants ( 2000) on an area of ​​586.9 km ². Rugby is the county seat ( county seat ) of Pierce County.

The city is known since 1931 as the geographical center of North America.

History

Rugby was founded in 1886 at the junction of a railway line. Here an important branch line turned off after Bottineau. The city was named after a place at a railway crossing in Warwickshire England, the place of these English intersection was also called rugby. The naming by the Railway Company Great Northern Railway was chosen deliberately so and should especially motivate English settlers to settle here. However, were shown to 80 % of the first inhabitants of German and Scandinavian.

1931 4.5 m high obelisk marking the geographic center of North America was established. 1971, the Obelisk for new measurements at another site is being reorganized. But nevertheless, it is still controversial to this day whether the site can be described as a geographical center of North America. Recent measurements assume that the geographic center is located around 25 km away from the city.

Population Development

¹ 1980-2000: census results; 2006: Updating the U.S. Census Bureau

Education

In the city there are three schools that ELY Elementary School, Rugby High School and Little Flower Catholic School.