Bismarck Municipal Airport
airport in Burleigh County, North Dakota, United States
Bismarck Municipal Airport (IATA: BIS, ICAO: KBIS, FAA LID: BIS) is in Burleigh County, North Dakota, United States, three miles southeast of the City of Bismarck, North Dakota, which owns it. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a primary commercial service airport.
History
The original terminal, a single-story Modernist building, was designed in 1963 by Ritterbush Brothers, a local architectural firm. A two-story addition was constructed in 1982. The original building was demolished in 2003 to make way for the present building, and the addition was demolished in summer of 2005, after the completion of the new $15 million terminal. It was designed by Tvenge Associates, another Bismarck firm, and opened in May 2005. A parking lot is just south of the new terminal.
Bismarck Airport had its 7th consecutive year of record passenger boardings in 2016, with 271,020 passengers boarding commercial airline flights at the airport. Airport Director Greg Haug "...was pleased to see the year-end numbers come in and attributes these record boardings to Bismarck’s strong economy."
Facilities
Bismarck Municipal Airport covers 2,425 acres (981 ha) at an elevation of 1,661 feet (506 m). It has two runways, both asphalt: 13/31 is 8,794 by 150 feet (2,680 x 46 m) and 3/21 is 6,600 by 100 feet (2,012 x 30 m).
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Bismarck Municipal Airport” as airport in Burleigh County, North Dakota, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as airport in Burleigh County, North Dakota, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q387593. Authority coordinates are 46.773, -100.746. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2011, 2015, 1963 and 1982.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Bismarck Municipal Airport”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Bismarck Municipal Airport primary sources, Bismarck Municipal Airport archive and Bismarck research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Bismarck Municipal Airport”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Bismarck Municipal Airport” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.