North Dakota opens its legislative session with speeches and drinks from a 115-year-old punchbowl If the speeches weren't enough of a draw when the North Dakota Legislature convened Tuesday, maybe a chance to slurp up punch from a 115-year-old silver punchbowl once used on a battleship did the trick.
“It’s still something that North Dakotans were proud of, proud to provide, proud to use, proud to see used,” said Lori Nohner, a State Historical Society of North Dakota research historian.
The 45-pound punchbowl — part of a 40-piece custom setting purchased and made for the USS North Dakota — was carried under guard when lawmakers began their work in the capital city of Bismarck.
North Dakota residents in the 1910s raised $16,000 — nearly $500,000 today — for the serving set, decorated with bison heads and other agrarian motifs, such as prairie roses, wheat and corn.
The silver service came back to North Dakota in 1926, Nohner said.
