James J. Hill, known as “Empire Builder” made his mark as a developer as he built a transcontinental railroad across the Midwest including Dakota Territory to the Pacific Coast in the 19th century.

Hill and the Great Northern Railway were responsible for the development of farms and towns, and bringing economic development to the northern part of what is now North Dakota and other communities between St. Paul, Minnesota, and Seattle, Washington. The Great Northern Railway was completed in 1893 in Seattle.

The documentary, “The Empire Builder: James J. Hill and The Great Northern Railway,” “focuses on the impact James J. Hill and the Great Northern Railway had on settling the West, labor, industry, indigenous peoples and on North Dakota’s emergence as a leader in the agriculture. Of particular interest, the story of Minot’s origins appears in Episode 2,” said Stephen Sadis, producer and director.

Hill named the city of Minot for one of his associates, Henry Davis Minot. From a Massachusetts family and a Harvard University friend of Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Minot became a director and vice president of the railroad company that eventually became the Great Northern Railway, according to The Minot Daily News information.

(Great Northern Railway merged with three other railroads in 1970 to form the Burlington Northern Railroad, which merged in 1996 with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to form the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway, now BNSF, according to historical information.)

Years later, a school in Minot was named for Hill.

Jim Hill Junior High School, now Jim Hill Middle School, in southwest Minot was dedicated in February 1964. Louis W. Hill, grandson of James J. Hill, was among Great Northern Railway Co., and Minot school officials attending the dedication ceremonies, according to files of The Minot Daily News.

The newspaper’s files also noted a bronze tablet, bearing the likeness of James J. Hill, and a quote from a speech he once gave to schoolchildren in Crookston, Minnesota, on Sept. 17, 1908, was presented to the Minot school by Charles W. Moore, St. Paul, Minnesota, executive assistant, public relations, of the Great Northern Railway. The ceremony began and ended with toots from a Great Northern locomotive steam whistle, a gift of the Great Northern Railway.

The Railroad Museum of Minot has many displays and artifacts about the history and culture of railroads dating back to the late 1880s. The facility is located at 19 1st St. NE.

Minot also is a site for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Minot’s Amtrak Passenger Station is one of the stops between Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington, for the Amtrak passenger train, the Empire Builder. The train uses the BNSF tracks.