Editing Wells County, North Dakota (section)

==History==
The [[Dakota Territory]] legislature created the county on January 4, 1873. Its government was not organized at that time, nor was it attached for administrative or judicial purposes to another county. It was named Gingras County; this name continued until February 26, 1881, when the name was changed to Wells County, named for Edward Payson Wells, a [[Jamestown, North Dakota|Jamestown]] banker, early promoter of the [[James River (Dakotas)|James River Valley]], and member of the legislature in 1881.

The county government was organized on August 28, 1884, with Sykeston as the county seat. In 1894 the county seat was transferred to Fessendon.<ref name="ND Counties">{{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> The county boundary was altered in 1883 when a parcel was transferred to [[Foster County, North Dakota|Foster County]], and again in 1885 when it received land from Foster County. Its boundary has remained unchanged since 1885.<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 4, 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>

The [[center of population]] of North Dakota is located in the extreme southeastern corner of Wells County, about {{convert|9|mi|km}} southeast of [[Sykeston, North Dakota|Sykeston]].<ref>{{cite web|title=2010 Census Centers of Population by State|url=https://www.census.gov/geo/www/2010census/centerpop2010/statecenters.html|publisher=United States Census Bureau, Geography Division|access-date=May 5, 2011}}</ref>

[[File:Map of Wells County, N.D., 1911.jpg|thumb|Outline map of Wells County, North Dakota, 1911]]