Walhalla is a city in Pembina County, North Dakota, United States. It sits on the banks of the Pembina River, five miles (8 km) from the border with Manitoba (Canada) and approximately from the border with Minnesota. The population was 893 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 867 in 2024. The city was originally named St. Joseph (St. Jo) after the local Catholic mission, Walhalla is the second oldest town in North Dakota, its history bound up in the fur trade of the Red River Valley. One mile northeast of town was the North West Company fur trading post, established in 1797 by British-Canadian surveyor and cartographer David Thompson (1770–1857), and in 1801 moved to a site one mile east of Walhalla, where a reconstructed building is now located. Also about one mile northeast of Walhalla is the Gingras Trading Post, established in the 1840s by the Métis legislator and businessman Antoine Blanc Gingras (1821–1877).

In town is the Kittson Trading Post, established in 1843 by Norman Kittson (1814–1888), an American Fur Company agent. This is the oldest building in North Dakota. It is located in the Walhalla State Historical Park and is preserved by the State Historical Society. The Great Northern Railway arrived in Walhalla in 1898.

The town was the site of a protest against TransCanada's Keystone Pipeline in October 2016, when documentarian Deia Schlosberg was arrested. In 2023, an fossil mosasaurid species was discovered near Walhalla, and was named Jormungandr walhallaensis after the town.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (1.6%) is water.

|align-fn=center

|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<br>2020 Census

Climate

This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Walhalla has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.

See also

  • Walla Theater

References

  • City of Walhalla – official website
  • Pioneer Women's Histories: Walhalla from the Digital Horizons website
  • Walhalla quasquicentennial anniversary :commemorating 125 years of history, June 30 to July 7, 1973 from the Digital Horizons website