Pembina, North Dakota

Pembina, North Dakota
City
Building and water tower in Pembina
Building and water tower in Pembina
Motto: 
"Oldest Settlement in the Dakota Territories"
Location of Pembina, North Dakota
Location of Pembina, North Dakota
Coordinates: 48°58′01″N 97°14′51″W / 48.96694°N 97.24750°W / 48.96694; -97.24750
CountryUnited States
StateNorth Dakota
CountyPembina
Founded1797 (Officially 1843)
Area
[1]
 • Total0.81 sq mi (2.11 km2)
 • Land0.81 sq mi (2.09 km2)
 • Water0.01 sq mi (0.02 km2)
Elevation
[2]
791 ft (241 m)
Population
 (2020)[3]
 • Total512
 • Estimate 
(2022)[4]
504
 • Density634.45/sq mi (245.03/km2)
Time zoneUTC−6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC−5 (CDT)
ZIP code
58271
Area code701
FIPS code38-61580
GNIS feature ID1036216[2]
Websitecityofpembina.org

Pembina (/ˈpɛmbɪnə/ ⓘ) is a city in Pembina County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 512 at the 2020 census.[3] Pembina is located 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the Canada–US border. Interstate 29 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.[citation needed] It is one of three 24-hour ports of entry in North Dakota, the others being Portal and Dunseith.[5] The Noyes–Emerson East Border Crossing, located 2 miles (3.2 km) to the east on the Minnesota 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 (Sioux, as the French called them), the Chippewa (Ojibwe), and the Assiniboine. The British/Canadian Hudson's Bay Company (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.[6] The first permanent HBC-sponsored settlement in Pembina started in 1812.[6] Prior to the Treaty of 1818, Pembina was in Rupert's Land, 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 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.[7] Pembina was officially founded in 1843.[8] In 1851, the US established its first post office in present-day North Dakota in Pembina.[9] 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.[8]

  1. ^ "ArcGIS REST Services Directory". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  2. ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Pembina, North Dakota
  3. ^ a b "Explore Census Data". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference USCensusEst2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Locate a Port of Entry | U.S. Customs and Border Protection". www.cbp.gov. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  6. ^ a b History of Pembina - City of Pembina website
  7. ^ "Where is Pembina?" Archived January 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Prairie Public Radio Website
  8. ^ a b "GNIS Detail - Pembina". geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
  9. ^ "Chronological history of North Dakota" Archived October 4, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, State Historical Society