BISMARCK, N.D. (KXNET) — Bismarck has a long history that dates back long before the city was even established and a group of people made it their priority to tell the story of our capital city.

On March 15, Bismarck released a 90-page Timeline Book that encompasses how the beautiful city came to be.

The idea originally came from other states that created a brief article highlighting key moments in history.

But the idea quickly grew into something bigger for the Bismarck Historic Preservation Commission.

“So that’s kind of how the idea started, it obviously grew from there and sort of took up a life of its own and by the end of it we get a 90-page printed book, that’s a history of Bismarck timeline,” said Bismarck Historic Preservation Commission Member, Tory Jackson.

The book is divided into eight different eras the first of which dates all the way back to the first evidence of any human settlement in the area which could be up to 12,000 years ago.

“Bismarck’s history didn’t start when the town was founded it didn’t start even before that when Lewis and Clark arrived, or the railroad arrived. There have been people living in this area for thousands and thousands of years, so we wanted to make sure that was part of the story as well,” added Jackson.

Although many people are aware of the big events, such as the capital burning down, there is a lot more to the rich history of the city.

While creating this book, even the members working on the timeline learned some new things.

“We also wanted to include some stories that maybe don’t know as much about, I think people will find some things in there that maybe they have never heard before or they’ve heard very little about. We wanted to present a good representation of Bismarck’s history,” stated Jackson.

The books are available at the City-County building as well as the public library.

Copies are free and there are currently 2,500 copies available, with the possibility of printing more in the future.