MDU Resources Group, Inc. is a U.S.-based corporation supplying products and services to regulated energy delivery and utilities related construction materials and services businesses.[2] It is headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota, and operates in 48 states.
Early history
MDU Resources got its start in 1924 as the Minnesota Northern Power Company. Its founder, Rolland Heskett, had previously been involved with utilities in Wisconsin and northeast Minnesota (the forerunners of Wisconsin Public Service Corporation and Minnesota Power (& Light Co.), respectively).
The firm's holdings initially consisted of the electric utility at Cushing, Oklahoma (later sold off to Oklahoma Gas & Electric), Minnesota Electric Light & Power Company, which served the Bemidji, Minnesota area (sold in 1925 to the W.B. Foshay interests. This property today comprises Otter Tail Power's Bemidji division), the Eastern Montana Light & Power Company, centered around Sidney and Glendive, Montana, and the Eastern Montana Utilities Co., which was based in Fairview, Montana.
The two 'Eastern Montana' utilities became the nucleus of Montana-Dakota Utilities' operations.