As we all know, North Dakota borders South Dakota, Minnesota, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Montana. What many of us my not know is there are numerous communities that were built right on a border and in a couple of cases, they extend beyond North Dakota.
The most obvious border town is Fargo. It’s our largest city that bumps up to the Red River and it has one of Minnesota’s larger cities, Moorhead, on the other side. Others on the Red River are Wahpeton and Breckenridge, Minn., Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, Minn.
How many of you have heard of Forbes, North Dakota? It’s a small town of 36 people in Dickey County, southwest of Ellendale. The town’s Main Street intersects with 100th Street, which is also the South Dakota state line. Anyone living south of town is living in South Dakota.
The only other place similar to Forbes on the South Dakota state line would be North Lemmon, in southeastern Adams County. Although it might appear like a suburb of a much larger city, it is actually an extension of the community of Lemmon, in South Dakota.
So, in reality, North Lemmon is actually part of Lemmon, thus a small portion of a South Dakota town is situated in another state. Lemmon lies in Perkins County and has a population of 1,160. North Lemmon doesn’t list a population, but those residents are North Dakota citizens according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
There are two border towns on the North Dakota/Montana state line. Fairview is a community many of know about, or at least have heard about. Fairview is in Richland County, Montana and has a population of 900 residents.
It’s “suburb” sits in McKenzie County, in North Dakota. East Fairview is an unincorporated community that had a population of 73 in the 2020 Census. If you go immediately west of town, you are on Montana.
The other is Westby, and this one is odd. When Westby was founded in 1910, it was in Williams County, in North Dakota. Five years later, it moved just far enough west to be on a rail line. That actually placed the community in Montana, where it’s been since.
There are two border towns in Burke County that are unique for two reasons. They both bump up to the Canadian border and both have towns of the same names in Saskatchewan.
The first is Portal. Most of us know it as a major, 24-hour port of entry. But there is a town there that has 125 residents.
Portal is right on the border and for some people, they can look out their kitchen window and they are looking into Canada. There’s a street just west of the port of entry. If you drive on that street and you go in the ditch, you are in Canada and might have to explain yourself to Customs and Border Patrol folks.
Immediately across the international boundary is North Portal, called a village in Saskatchewan, North Portal is nearly as big as Portal with 113 people.
Portal and North Portal are unique because many of the local residents travel back and forth across the border daily for work, school functions and other reasons. When your mowing your lawn in North Dakota, your neighbor might be mowing his lawn in Saskatchewan.
East of Portal less than 20 miles is Northgate. It also sits on the Canadian border and right across the line is Northgate, Saskatchewan. Northgate was originally founded in Canada, but was moved about a mile south and across the international boundary when a post office was established in 1914.
The town of Northgate, Saskatchewan actually split into two communities and both still remain, although Northgate, N.D., doesn’t list a population and is known as an unincorporated community.
Northgate, Saskatchewan is listed as a hamlet and doesn’t have an official census. It is officially part of the Municipality of Enniskillen and both communities today are known for having massive grain elevators.
Next is Neche, in Pembina County. This is a community of 350 people that is less than a mile south of the Canadian border and it’s sister city is Gretna, Manitoba, with a population of just over 500.
Finally, we come to Maida, in Cavalier County. In this case, there isn’t a community on the other side, only Manitoba farmland. It has a port of entry and is the halfway point between Langdon and Morden, Manitoba.
