This town site was founded in 1910 by the Northern Town & Land Company in the NW1/4 Section 33-151-72, Hagel Township, as Dallas, North Dakota. Postal officials objected to this name, and the post office was established October 25th, 1910 as Selz, North Dakota, with Rochus Sanders as Postmaster. Rochus Sanders is credited along with Gottlieb Goldade in selecting the name after their ancestral village of Selz, Kutshurgan, Odessa South Russia and many other area settlers. The Great Northern Railroad Surrey cutoff line arrived in 1912l. This was mostly a Roman Catholic, Germans from Russia community, later adding St Anthony's Catholic Church in town. The elevation is 1608, and the peak population of 160 was recorded in 1920. Other nearby settlement was the Odessa settlement northeast of Selz, with St Maria's Assumption Catholic Church and cemetery, also know as the Strasburg church and cemetery.
Septermber 16, 1912, the Farmers State Bank was built. The Tallman Investment Bank was started in 1901, but was bought by the Farmers State Bank in 1911. The bank was in business until 1923 when it closed.
Mike Burgard had the first grain elevator in Selz. Independently owned and operated, it was followed by two others. As wheat poured in from the area farmers, the town boomed. In 1912 one elevator handled between 300,00 and 400,00 bushels of wheat. In 1915 about 500,000 bushels of wheat were shipped from Selz.
Until 1915, Selz was served by a district school just outside of town. In that year, the newspaper says, "Residents of the town started agitating to have the building moved to town. The plan met with too much opposition. To simplify matters, the district was divided and the town built its own school." Following a fire which on Dec 18, 191934 destroyed the first school, built near Selz by Hans Rouslon, Voeller designed the present school which was erected in 1935 by Jacob and Joe Hoffart of Rugby with Newell A. Bjorke as the a carpenter, along with other help from the Works Progress Administration crew.
In the 1930's, Selz had a fast-pitch softball team with Wellsburg. Those on the team included Framk Kunanz and Jo A Keller, base umpires; Anton Ziegler and later John and Pius Richter, pitchers; Peter and Joe Richter.
In 1995 Carroll Bjorke was manager and president of North Dakota Class B. When Bjorke went to college, Pius Krenzel became manager.
South End Huskies, a homemakers club, was organized in June 1947, at the home of Mrs. August E. Axtman, president; Clara Held, vice president; and Pauline Ziegler, secretary-treasurer. Their club name was later changed to South End Helpers and then to Selz Busy Bees.
In 1910 the first building on the present site of Selz was a store owned by Rochus Sanders. The store was destroyed by fire before the Great Northern Railway could be completed through the village.
The village was originally named Dallas by people from Dallas, Texas, who came to homestead. Postal authorities objected to the name. Rochus Sanders, the first postmaster, was appointed Oct. 25, 1910 and is believed to have selected the name “Selz” being many of the pioneers came from the German-Russian settlement of Selz, Russia.
The first bank was built by A.J. Goosen in 1911 and was called the First State Bank of Dallas and later changed to the State Bank of Selz. The bank went bankrupt in the 1930’s. Many of the people lost their savings and accounts.
Selz was a thriving village in the early days and had three elevators, bank, grocery store, lumberyard, livery barn, blacksmith shop, dray service, butcher shop, cream station, bowling alley, bars, dance hall and depot. The Selz Special School replaced the three rural schools.
The G.N. Railroad was completed through Selz in 1912. Many local men worked on the section crews through the years.
St. Anthony Catholic Church is a continuation of the rural Odessa and Strassburg churches. St. Anthony was organized in 1916. Anton Weigel, Sr. donated five acres of land on which the church was built and was accorded the honor of having the church named St. Anthony. The building was destroyed by fire Jan. 6, 1959 but was replaced by a brick structure. Bricks from the old bank building were used to construct a fence around the cemetery.
