A great portion of this Berwick information is resourced in MCHENRY COUNTY, Its History and Its People, 1885-1985, also North Dakota Place Names by Douglas Wick and Origins of North Dakota Place Names by Mary Ann Barnes Williams.

A township and a city. It was named by Great Northern Railroad officials for Berwick, Dorsetshire, England. Settlement began in 1886. A farm post office was established 22 October 1890 in the sod house of James Cocks, with his wife Mary as Postmaster. The farm was located in Section 1. The Cocks' had a land patent on 19 July 1893 but the post office was closed one month later on 18 August 1893 with mail to Towner and the family is gone by 1900 census. However, development of a community did start in Section 1. A section house [Note: small building for storing railroad section tools and equipment and sometimes a small railroad-owned dwelling for housing a section boss and family or members of a section gang.] was built in 1897. Thirty years later it was sold to Jack Haman who moved it to his farm. Elmer Greene opened up a store in 1898 and purchased the townsite, just as settlers began to arrive, from Henry Erickson of Towner in April, 1899 for $800.00. The post office reopened at his store on 17 November 1899 with Mr. Greene as Postmaster. A boom followed. The unofficial population was 300 in 1920. The village incorporated in 1929, but a steady decline has reduced the population to just 24 in 1980. The post office, Zip Code 58719, closed 4 April 1969 with mail to Towner.

Berwick Memories - 1911-1960**
By Berwick School Reunion Committee

**This book was downloaded from:
Digital Horizons, Life on the Northern Plains
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