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James Holes Reading

JamesHolesAudio A radio play-style reading of a first-person account of James Holes’ first impressions of Fargo, May 1871. The excerpt is from a speech given at the Washington Club in 1916. Music by Mike and Zach. Zach Jendro, Digital History 2012
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Nineteenth-Century Telephone Services and Water Supplies

In an effort to expand the prospects of Fargo’s increasing community, Fargo City Council Members gave H.C. Shoen, E.C. Eddy, and others the city’s first telephone franchise on January 7, 1880.  A year later, Fargo and Moorhead Telephone Exchange began erecting poles for doing general phone business.  Twenty years later, Northwestern Telephone Exchange Company fitted the city with metallic circuit long distance transm
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Early Public Street Lights

After Mayor George Egbert authorized a $44 payment to Cass Lamp Works on December 5, 1879, the first kerosene lamps soon appeared on the streets of Fargo. Police officers were authorized to ensure the street lamps were in proper working order and purchased barrels of oil so the night police units could fill and light the lamps and extinguish them in the morning.[1] By October 7, 1881, the Gas Light and Fuel Company b
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The First Post Office

Even in 1876, Fargo’s first post office, although small, was well-fitted to serve the citizens, conveniently located next to the bank, and marked another step towards Fargo becoming a city unto itself.  By 1883, the town had grown enough that The Fargo City Council resolved to begin mail delivery in Fargo.  Seven years later, they began petitioning Representative Hansbrough and Senator Pierce to fund a $250,000 publi
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Hector House

Two men, Andrew Henry Moore and George Mann, decided to take a chance in Dakota Territory in 1869. They left from Waupum, Wisconsin, and arrived in the Red River Valley the same year. Upon their arrival, all that stood in what would be known as Fargo was a small city of tents occupied by Northern Pacific Railroad personnel and a few soldiers. Fortunately, Mann had experience in carpentry work and it is assumed that h
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