In early 1924, a Chicago engineer named R.M. Heskett, representing two Wisconsin businessmen, bought a small electric company along the Montana-North Dakota state line. Heskett was an early advocate of central station power generation and he quickly connected the small farming communities with high voltage transmission lines energized by small power plants.

During the summer of 1926, the company entered the natural gas business with the construction of a 50-mile gas line to fuel an electric power plant. Natural gas was also made available for local distribution to heat homes and businesses. At that time the company's headquarters were located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

This pattern of electric and natural gas development repeated itself many times over the next few decades. Small electric companies were purchased and interconnected with Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. and natural gas service was expanded to other Montana and North Dakota cities and to the flanks of the Big Horn Mountains in northern Wyoming. Aggressive acquisition of gas supplies in other newly discovered fields in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming enabled the company to expand service around the region. In fact, a pipeline constructed eastward from Bismarck eventually brought natural gas to nearly two-thirds of North Dakota. This growth strategy helped make electricity and natural gas more affordable and widely available.

In 1968 the company moved its headquarters from Minneapolis to Bismarck, North Dakota. Today, over 250 communities in portions of five states enjoy safe, reliable Montana-Dakota electric or natural gas service. In some of those communities, Montana-Dakota provides both energy products.