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From state Capitol to ‘funeral pyre’ in three hours

On Dec. 28, 1930, the North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck burned, discovered about 7:35 a.m., in under three hours before the Jan. 6 legislative session.
Officials said no definitive cause was found, though they suspected `spontaneous combustion` from varnish, turpentine and old rags; the head Capitol custodian disputed this, and Governor George F. Shafer had warned the old, much‑criticized Capitol building was obsolete.
Robert Byrne, North Dakota secretary of state, broke a window to rescue the original constitution while workers and officials salvaged records from vaults, some intact, others fueling flames.
Officials convened emergency sessions the same day as the fire, relocating the governor's office to the federal post office building while legislators moved to the city auditorium and World War Memorial gymnasium, and Bismarck newspapers published extras with photos of the blaze.
Editorials in the Mandan Pioneer and Forum urged a Capitol replacement `befitting the dignity of the state` amid lost highway records delaying federal construction funding.

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