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Charles A. Roberts Home, 611 8th St. S.
One of Fargo’s grandest old homes, the Charles Roberts House was built in 1884, anchoring the north end of the historic South Eighth Street district. It is an enormous dwelling: it features over 20 rooms and measures in at well over 7,000 square feet. It has a carriage house and a large, picturesque yard. According to architectural historian Ron Ramsey, the Roberts Home is a “truly exuberant piece of architecture, th
Read MoreIsland Park’s Development
As railroads pushed out onto the Great Plains, city founders throughout the nation embraced the idea of developing public parks. In the words of Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar, “By the early nineteenth century municipal and national governments had begun to establish and landscape public parks that represented the romantic ideal of rus in urbe — country in the city.” This is an inversion of the phr
Read MoreJewish Women
~ Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest The domestic sphere was the responsibility of the women within the Jewish community, and this included child rearing and keeping a kosher home. Women had to make sure that the food they were buying did not contain food that was treyf, or unfit to eat. This meant making sure that all meat was butchered according to the church’s regulations and was kosher. They
Read MoreJames Holes House, 1230 5th St. N.
The James Holes House is built in a style that was popular in the 1870’s called Italianate, which drew inspiration from late-16th century Italian architecture. The October 11, 1879 Fargo Times had a detailed write-up about the home, as its grandeur surely was a novelty to the some of the rough-hewn settlers of the prairie. “One of the handsomest and most conveniently arranged residences in Dakota Territory. Th
Read MoreThe Holes Family
The first parcel of land that James Holes purchased in North Dakota was originally owned by Ole Hanson. This transaction between Hanson and Holes, dated July 26, 1871, at a cost of $76.60, was the first purchase of land of any kind in Cass County. [1] It was upon this wheat field that Holes built a farmhouse for his family, which at the time consisted of Holes and his mother. Holes would eventually own 180 acres of
Read MoreNorth Dakota Milling Association
The North Dakota Milling Association, founded in 1892, was supported by the North Dakota people. The majority of the officers and directors were from North Dakota, with the exception of two. The Milling Association had thirteen mills in the North Dakota area and three on the Minnesota side of the Red River Valley. They had the capacity to produce 5,000 barrels of flour a day from all of the mills and in the late 1800
Read More“The Checkered Years”: A Diary by Mary Dodge Woodward
Historically, women in the West were portrayed in a stereotypical manner: they were either the unwilling followers of husbands who were seeking wealth and adventure, or the rebellious Annie Oakley types or brothel operators. The reality of women’s lives in the West is entirely different. Mary Dodge Woodward helped her son manage her cousin’s farm by maintaining the household. She cooked for up to 30 peopl
Read MoreGeorge Nichols
George Nichols was born in Brattleboro, Vermont in 1856. He moved to Marshal, Minnesota to work in a hotel, where he stayed until he moved to Fargo in 1878 and became a clerk at the Headquarters Hotel. Working behind the desk, he became popular with the people of Fargo and did his best to talk to every man who wandered into the hotel. After many years of working at the hotel, in 1885 he took the County Deputy Treasur
Read MorePeter Elliott
Peter Elliott was a man who moved to Fargo in April 1893. Before he moved, he worked on a steamboat sailing up and down the Red River, to and from Winnipeg. After his time working on the steamboat, he spent two years working as a surveyor for the United States surveyors. When he relocated to Fargo, he opened a restaurant in the basement of Martin Hector’s building on the corner of Front and Fifth. His re
Read MoreMary Dodge Woodward
Mary Dodge Woodward is a woman who lived and worked on a bonanza farm in Cass County from 1884-1888. Bonanza farms cropped up largely in the Dakota territory after the Northern Pacific Railroad sold huge acreages of land to their investors for extremely low prices to cover their debts. These farms covered thousands of acres and produced a large number of wheat crops. The land owners hired managers to run the farms, a
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