The temperance movement gained a strong following in the Dakota territories;
The local WCTU branch was led by Elizabeth Preston Anderson, a Indiana native who moved to Tower City and later Fargo. She in her school year became severely ill, an illiness that resulted in her doctor prescripting a medicine containing alcohol, a common medical ingredient at the time. She soon bcame addicted to the medicine and immediately cut herself off. tthis experience among several others led her to become an outspoken advocate for temperance and alcohol education. her position at leader of the North Dakota WCTU made her one of if not the most influential women in the state. In addition to voices like Anderson and the WCTU, several large newspapers such as the Grand Forks Herald and the Norwegian language Normanden, as well as a plethora of small town papers actively supported statewide prohibition, despite opposition from the Fargo Argus and The Bismarck Tribune who opposed the movement. In 1887, the territorial legislature passed a law giving any community the ability to prohibit liquor.
In 1889, the Dakota Territory was finally allowed the opportunity for statehood with the Enabling Act of 1889, which also divided the territory into what is now North and South Dakota. On May 14th of that year, the state to be held local elections to choose delegates to the North Dakota Contitutional Convention. On July 4, the 75 delegate convention, under the leadership of President Fred Fancher, it was dediced to split the 75 delegates into 23 commitees to discuss and draft different provision of the New constitution, after which all of the delegates would vote on whether to add the drafts to the constitution. on the Tmeperance committee, Horace M. Clark of New Rockford was selected as Chair, and the committee discussed their options with regards to temperance. They decided to submit a prohibition amendment, which would ban liquor sale and consumption, to a public vote. The Convention approved of the decision and so decided that when North Dakotan would vote to ratify the constitution, they would also be able to vote on prohibition amendment seperately. On election day, October 1st, North Dakotans overwhelmingly voted to ratify the constitution, however due to the closeness of the vote. For nearly a week, there was uncertainity over the outcome of the prohibition vote, and multiple false alarms on both sides, and he Fargo Argus reporting counting errors in sevveral different counties. Finally on a final vote of 18,552 for prohibition to 17,393 against, the state by a narrow count enacted prohibition. the Saloons closed across the state on July 1, 1890 and North Dakota finally became a dry state.