Stanley District Court is more formally known as the district court of Mountrail county and is in the Northwest judicial district of North Dakota.

Ward county included Mountrail county until Mountrail was separated from it around 1909. However this was the second time around for the county; there had been a Mountraille County formed in the 1870's but it was abolished approximately 20 years later. The spelling of the original county was closer to the name of the explorer for whom it was named. Lake Sakakawea lis in the extreme Southwest part of the county. The Sibyl Center for Life Enrichment in the historic renovated First Presbyterian Church in Stanley, is the scene of performances, classes in the arts and educational programs.