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  When Moorhead was just a small tent town and before then had any law and order, there was a lot of chaos. In 1872, There was a big shootout between Slim Jim Shumway and Shang Stanton in what is now known as the home goods section in Herbergers in Moorhead. According to the Saint Cloud Journal, a “couple of desperadoes” on Thursday night had a gun fight with revolvers in Moorhead.[1] The shooting happened due t

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Prostitution is known as the world’s oldest profession.  It should be no surprise then, that it was one of the earliest to arrive in Fargo, following the railroad into the city in its earliest years.   Rather than provide a thorough analysis of prostitution in Fargo or focus on one particular figure, what follows is a brief outline of the rise and fall of prostitution in Fargo in the late 1800s and early 1900s,

Though North Dakota was not a state when the Civil War took place, its history was shaped by the contribution of hundreds of Union Civil War veterans.[1]  Though much research needs to be done to fill out the story,[2] some basic conclusions are in order.  First, Civil War veterans came to Fargo in significant numbers in the decades after the war, just as they did to many other Midwestern and western communities duri

“Captain Keye… asked all who were willing to volunteer their services… to step two paces to the front.  Every man of the fifty-four stepped up at once.”[1] Thus did the local Fargo paper describe the response of Fargo’s National Guard company, Company B, to President McKinley’s call for volunteers to serve in the Spanish-American War.  Those men who were accepted for service by the U.S. Govern

The Red River Valley is no stranger to the destructive nature of the Red River of the North. In 1897 the Red River proved its fickle nature with a late spring flood causing destruction throughout Cass county in North Dakota, and Clay county in Minnesota. In the winter of 1896 and 1897, large amounts of snow fell around North Dakota and Minnesota, leading there to be concerns about flooding, before the spring melt had

On April 26, 1901 the Supreme Court of the state of North Dakota, in the case of Robert against Fargo Gas & Electric Co and the city of Fargo, ruled that the contract between the city of Fargo and Fargo Gas & Electric Co was void.  This ruling was made by the Supreme Court for reasons that the city charter states that the city cannot make a contract for more than a year.[1]   The contract between Fargo Gas &a

Like much of the nation in 1900, Fargo and Moorhead were smattered with various fraternal orders. As of 1900, both cities combined listed fifty-one fraternal organizations.[1] The Masonic Order was perhaps the most popular order established because of its celebration of Victorian principles in the life of American men. A man’s membership in a Masonic order showed his commitment to masculinity and set him up for succe

In the late 1800’s, it was the practice of the New York Children’s Aid Society to round up homeless children from the streets, and send them west on the train to be distributed to farmers. Sometimes the children ended up in good homes, in other cases they were chosen just for their ability to serve as free labor. Children’s Home Societies were created in towns along the railroad to protect the “orph