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A great portion of the Deering 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 1910 township [T157, R80] and a townsite. This Great Northern Railroad townsite was founded in 1903 in the northwest quarter of section 30, Deering Township and named for William Deering of the Deering Harvester Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota, although some say it was named for a Great Northern Railroad official. The Peebler post office, run by William H. Allen, moved to this site on 9 November 1903 from its original location one mile to the west in Ward County. The elevation is 1547, the Zip Code is 58731, and the village, which incorporated in 1909, reached a peak population of 194 in 1930. In 2018 the population was 122.
From the McHenry County History: "The village of Deering was founded in 1903. It was named for Mr. Deering, the farm implement manufacturer. There were so many homesteaders in the vicinity that the town grew rapidly and prospered. Many businesses were started: a lumberyard, a printing shop where Bill Jackman edited the
DEERING ENTERPRISE, a shoe store, barber shop, a doctor and a dentist, general store, livery stable, three banks, of which two were the Deering State Bank and
Security State Bank, a tailor shop, the Grand Hotel, a drug store, hardware store, meat market, photograph studio and an opera house.
 The first church was the Congregational Church. The second was the Catholic Church, and later, the Lutherans bought the old Free Methodist Church building and moved it to its present location, calling it the Deering Lutheran Church.
Many of the original business places have disappeared. The ones that remain [1985] are the elevator, a grocery store, a hardware store and a bar. The three churches are still here; also a school, a post office and a community center. There is an active community club and a senior citizen's club. In 1963 a fire department was organized and their fine new building is a nice addition to Main Street. In 1964 the town installed a new street lighting system and also a city water and sewer system.
In about the year 1903, a group of men sent a petition to the County Commissioners asking that they be organized into a township to be named "Hailing Township". This document was signed by twenty nine men, some of whom were N. C. Abbot, Halleck Erickson, W. H. Hailing, I. H. and J. A. Murphy, L. Anderson, I. W. Peck, W. E. Bachman, N. C. Abbott, Jr., Isaac George, James Cauthers, J. N. Hagen and Sidney Phelps. Evidently nothing came of this petition because the following letter was written:
Deering, N. D.
Feb. 26, 1906
Chairman, Co. Comm.
Dear Sir:
Enclosed find petition for organization of
twp. 157-80 signed by every business man in
Deering who is a legal voter and by a majori-
ty of the voters of the township. There has
been several attempts to organize this
township but each case your honorable
board has found some cause to throw it out.
We hope that this time it will be granted as
it would be hard to find a half dozen in the
township who are opposed to organization.
Yours resp't
Wm. L. Jackman
This letter was written on stationery of the Deering Enterprise of which Mr. Jackman was editor.
The petition reads as follows:
Hon. Board of County Com.
McHenry County
Gentlemen: We the undersigned resident
tax payers of Twp. 157 Range 80 respectful-
ly petition to be organized into a civil
township to be known as Deering Twp. and
it is our wish that the election be held in the
village of Deering.
There follows a list of fifty names, some of which are Wm. Jackman, W. A. Dunlop, O. A. Corum, A. A. Gotham, L. L. Haskins, Tom Olson, George Allen, O. C. Haug, G. S. Burtch, C. E. Calkins, E. H. Heacox, Dr. H. O. Richey, James Boles, Glenn Wiltse, J. F. Wiltse, F. Jestrab, Fred Allen, etc.
This petition was granted on March 1, 1906 by the County Commissioners.
Click on pictures for larger views.
The pictures were provided to the Centennial. The Deering Street Scene by Phillip Haug.
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