Beach is located in southwestern North Dakota at exit 1 along I-94 in Golden Valley County (of which it is the county seat). The population estimate for July 1, 1998 was 1,067, a decrease of 138 since 1990.

The history of the town begins circa 1900 when surveyors came to demarcate the line between North Dakota and Montana. Named for Cpt. Warren Beach of the 11th Infantry who accompanied the Stanley railroad survey expedition here in 1873, government engineers began working on the U.S. Land Survey, which had to be completed before homesteading could begin. The engineers lived in tents pitched near the railroad's section house.

Beach was known as the world's largest primary grain market in part due to the fertile land which allowed for a boom in the wheat market and grain silos were erected to handle the harvest. Eventually the boom played out and the town settled into a comfortable "no growth" period that suited the farmers and ranchers just fine.