DUNSEITH (AP) - On a hot July day in 1932, some 50,000 people flocked to an isolated spot on the 49th parallel north of here and gathered around a stone cairn to launch an ambitious vision.

They were there to dedicate the International Peace Garden, which recognizes the unique nature of the U.S.-Canada boundary, known as the longest unfortified border in the world.

On the cairn was the motto: "To God in His glory, we two nations dedicate this garden and pledge ourselves that as long as men shall live, we will not take up arms against one another."

Henry J. Moore, an Ontario horticulturist, conceived a U.S.-Canada international garden in 1928, and the National Association of Grounds Management approved it later at a meeting in Toronto.

Moore and a committee picked the spot on the North Dakota-Manitoba border, declaring it beautiful and ideal. Manitoba donated 1,451 acres of forest preserve, and the North Dakota state government purchased and donated 888 acres.

In 1956, acting on its own, the North Dakota Highway Department put the slogan "Peace Garden State" on license plates. It was received so enthusiastically that the Legislature made the phrase official the following year. It remains in state law as a mandatory part of the license plate.

Seventy-four years after its dedication, the formal, symmetrical botanical gardens designed by Moore to straddle the border remain the foundation for the rest of the sprawling grounds.

From 1934 to 1941, the U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps built picnic shelters, a stone-and-log lodge and other structures. The International Music Camp was founded in 1956 and the Canadian Legion Athletic Camp in 1962. Both operate independently of the Peace Garden's board, but the Peace Garden owns and maintains several music camp buildings.

A number of buildings and picnic shelters, camping facilities and other structures have sprouted on the grounds over the decades, many sponsored by fraternal, veterans and women's groups in both countries.

The Order of Eastern Star's Peace Chapel, the only building on the grounds that is half in Canada and half in the United States, dates from 1970, and the Masonic Auditorium was dedicated in 1981. The iconic 120-foot spires of the Peace Tower went up in 1982, with federal funding.

The newest building, the Game Warden Museum, opened in 2004.

In 2002, the government of Manitoba acquired sections of charred girders from the World Trade Center ruins in New York. They were delivered to the Peace Garden to create a lasting memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

Supporters now are seeking money to upgrade the park's buildings, fountains and other structures as it approaches its 75th anniversary next July.

Steven Locke, chief executive and development director of the Peace Garden since January, has been briefing legislators on the park's condition and working on a financial request. In tours, he shows people the rotting logs and buckling floor of the historic CCC Lodge, where a new foundation and other repairs could cost $125,000.

The main office building's basement walls are compromised by serious cracks that could result in collapse during a wet year. The International Music Camp's $5 million Burdick Center for the Performing Arts and a neighboring dining hall named for longtime Minot legislator Jim Peterson have leaking roofs that together could cost $100,000.

Legislators have told Locke the Peace Garden proposal will have a better chance if it appears in Gov. John Hoeven's executive budget. Hoeven said he will include it but he has not decided how much he will seek.

Locke said believes legislators "are looking at it very positively."

"This is a signature property for the state of North Dakota," he said. "Their concern is we maintain the Peace Garden State's icon property at top level."