Stark County, North Dakota
You’ve the heard the famous brand of an American clothing company, “The Genuine Article.” Well, that’s exactly what you’ll find in Stark County, ND. Our communities and residents are as rugged and stylish, comfortable and classic, durable and inviting as your favorite pair of jeans! We are an American icon.
We are currently the employment center of the United States. We have the largest construction and manufacturing center in North Dakota. We have a diverse economy: agriculture, manufacturing, energy development, tourism and a whole lot more! To help you measure the robust activity we experience every day, the busiest Wells Fargo ATM in the U.S. sits in the middle of Stark County, in Dickinson. And yes, we are in the middle of the Bakken Oil Boom.
At our core are the self-sufficient values and ethics that built this country and North Dakota. We value our families, our faiths, our neighbors and our communities. We work and we work hard. Our communities are clean and safe. We are compassionate and welcoming to those who have come to the 21st century “land of opportunity”- Stark County. When one pauses to sit at the main crossroads of Belfield, South Heart, Richardton and Dickinson, distant images of our heritage waft like a mirage from the hundreds even thousands of “immigrants,” who like our ancestors, are flooding Stark county and seeking the American dream in our communities.
The residents of Stark county have been fortunate to have been living that American dream and as a result we have been investing in quality of life for years. With all of our assets, amenities and opportunities, it is our quality of life that is the most precious to us. We live in communities where our neighbors have our back and we have theirs. We form life-long bonds and relationships. We have invested in education, indoor recreation and transportation and yet we are bursting at the seams as we accommodate the rapid growth in our county.
Infrastructure is our greatest need. Our own quality of life, and our ability to share our resources to fill the needs of those seeking opportunity with us, is now beyond jeopardy. The safety and security of residents in our small communities is paramount! We have experienced an unseasonably dry winter and summer. For many residents in our communities there is inadequate water pressure to address even the smallest of fires. That is not acceptable to us.
Stark county is positioned to be a thriving economic corridor with Interstate 94 running east and west, along with U.S. 85 and State Highways 22 and 8 running north and south. The smaller communities along the I-94 corridor, Belfield, South Heart, Gladstone, Taylor and Richardton all have the potential to add to the economic vitality of Dickinson if infrastructure capacity is expanded. We understand that infrastructure is the double-stitched seam in the fabric of the Stark county “genuine article.” We are doing all that is in our power to expand and improve our infrastructure and we are making it our top priority.
Some may view our rapid growth challenges as daunting as a North Dakota winter. But, as “the genuine article” we are designed for those challenges and will be the pattern that others attempt to copy for economic development and quality of life for decades to come.
©2017 Building Communities, Inc.
