Office of "The Montrail County Promoter" on Main Street
There's a small city in North Dakota called Stanley. You may not have heard of it but one visitor to this blog knows it well because it was where he was born and raised. Unlike Lebanon in Kansas, Stanley is a relatively prosperous place with its population now gradually rising. Stanley is the principal town in Mountrail County - named after Joseph Mountraille "a half breed mail carrier" who explored the region in the 1840's.
The brand new City Hall on Main Street
Significant oil reserves in the vicinity of Stanley are now being exploited which may explain its growing prosperity. However, 10% of the population live below the poverty line. Incidentally, 98.8% of Stanley's 2655 citizens describe themselves as "white". This is pretty typical of small towns in The Mid West.
Google Streetview Airways transported me to Stanley this morning and I had a good look around but I hardly saw any people. It was like a ghost town but I did see one man nipping into an office building. The imagery had been gathered on a bright but cool afternoon last October.
Households in Stanley enjoy a lot of surrounding space and on Main Street things look a lot healthier than in Lebanon KS. There are places to eat and drink and a good range of services.
Small house and church in Stanley
The main cities in North Dakota are Fargo (125,900) and Bismarck (73,622). Stanley is 280 miles from Fargo and 129 miles from Bismarck which is the state capital. In terms of population, North Dakota is the 47th most populous state in the USA - beaten to the bottom prize by Alaska, Vermont and finally Wyoming.
As far as I know, nobody famous ever came out of Stanley apart from the blogger known as Catalyst - who now resides like a prickly cactus in the desert warmth of Arizona. However, local legend has it that Lee Harvey Oswald lived in Stanley with his mother in the summer of 1953. He would have been thirteen years old at the time. The colourful rumours surrounding this mystery sojourn have proven impossible to verify.
A typical residential corner in Stanley
Stanley has a town website that operates out of the new City Hall building. The homepage welcomes visitors in this exact manner:-
"Stanley is a wonderful community with a charm that intertwines the traditions of our past with the progress of the future. Our aim is to make all citizens and visitors feel that they are part of and welcome in this community. If you are seeking a new place to live, looking for a business site, or considering a place to retire, you’ll find what you are looking for in Stanley."
Stanley High School - Home of "The Blue Jays"
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/eJ7aYNl
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