Historic Jamestown courthouse to host Juneteenth presentation on Benjamin Hayes

Inside the courtroom of the 1883 Stutsman County Courthouse in downtown Jamestown, a Juneteenth presentation will link national emancipation history to one of North Dakota’s most important civic landmarks.

The free program, “The Dakota Life of ‘Colonel’ Benjamin Hayes,” is set for 2 p.m. Friday, June 19, at the Stutsman County Courthouse State Historic Site, 504 Third Ave. SE. The public is invited to attend in the courtroom, where the presentation will focus on a man whose life crossed Jamestown’s early frontier years and the county’s own government history.

Benjamin Hayes arrived in Jamestown in 1882 as a U.S. Army soldier and later served at the courthouse as a cook, custodian and jailor. The presentation will examine that service while also looking more closely at Hayes’ wider life as a Black person in Dakota Territory, a perspective that remains underrepresented in local historical records.

That research angle gives the event a significance beyond a single biography. Organizers say the program will also address the broader challenge of recovering voices that were left out of the historical record, a task that shapes how communities understand who helped build places like Jamestown and Stutsman County.

The presentation is part of the ND250 commemoration marking the United States’ 250th birthday. By placing Hayes’ story inside the courthouse where he once worked, the event uses the building itself as part of the history lesson, turning a familiar landmark into a window on a less familiar past.

The courthouse adds its own weight to the occasion. Built in 1883, it is North Dakota’s oldest surviving courthouse and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also one of only two county courthouses in the state built in the Gothic Revival style, and it is known for its pressed-metal interior.

The site will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Sept. 7, giving residents and visitors a chance to see the historic courtroom before or after the Juneteenth program. For Jamestown, the event brings a national observance into a building that has long stood at the center of local civic life.