Editing McHenry County, North Dakota (section)

==History==
The [[Dakota Territory]] legislature created the county on January 4, 1873, with territory annexed from [[Bottineau County, North Dakota|Bottineau County]]. It was named for James McHenry, an early settler of [[Vermillion, South Dakota|Vermillion]] (in present [[South Dakota]]). The county government was not organized at that time, nor was the county attached to another county for administrative and judicial purposes. The county organization was effected on October 15, 1884. The county boundaries were altered in 1885, 1887, 1891, and in 1892. It has retained its present boundaries since 1892.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/DAKs_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|title=Dakota Territory, South Dakota, and North Dakota: Individual County Chronologies|work=Dakota Territory Atlas of Historical County Boundaries|publisher=The [[Newberry Library]]|date=2006|access-date=February 3, 2015|archive-date=April 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180402202102/http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/DAKs_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

When the county was organized in 1884, Villard was named as county seat. In 1885 this designation was moved to Scriptown. In 1886 the designation was again moved, to Towner, which has remained the seat to the present time (the two former sites are now ghost towns).<ref>{{cite web|title=County History|url=http://www.nd.gov/content.htm?parentCatID=83&id=County%20History|publisher=Official Portal for North Dakota State Government|access-date=May 4, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202151843/http://www.nd.gov/content.htm?parentCatID=83&id=County%20History|archive-date=February 2, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>