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Walking Tour
O.E. Flaten
The Flaten family is from Norway. O.E. Flaten was born November 6, 1854 in Vanders Norway. He came to America at the age of seventeen. at the urging of his uncle, Ole Boe, who sent him $45 for his passage over the Atlantic. After five long weeks at sea, Flaten arrived in Quebec, Canada. From Quebec he traveled by water and stagecoach, to Northfield, Minnesota. Flaten stayed there for six years, working for the photog
Read MoreCarnegie Library and Urban Renewal
Of the many historic buildings torn down during the urban renewal process, one that stands out is the Carnegie Moorhead Public Library. The library was a one story Classical revival style building that was built in part to the Women’s Club of Moorhead, who persuaded the City Council in 1904 to establish a library fund and obtained a $12,000 donation from Andrew Carnegie for construction of the library.[1] Carn
Read MoreEmma Magnuson
Emma C. Anderson was born to Norwegian immigrant parents in southern Minnesota around the year 1873, although it may have been as late as 1876. She married William G. Magnuson, the son of Swedish immigrants, in 1897 in Cass County, North Dakota. William ran a saloon in Moorhead, Minnesota, with his brother Frank, called the Nickle Plate Saloon. When prohibition became law in Clay County in 1915, the brothers close
Read MoreEdwin F. Ladd
Edwin F. Ladd was not always a man of the North Dakota prairies. He was born in Starks, Maine on December 13, 1859. There he attended public school and eventually graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1884 with a degree in chemistry. He began his career as chemist working at New York State Experiment Station from 1884-1890. In 1890, he was chosen by H. E. Stockbridge to become the Professor of Chemistry
Read MoreRenaissance Hall (Robb-Lawrence Building)
NDSU’s Renaissance Hall on the corner of NP Avenue and 8th Street and began as the Robb-Lawrence building. It was designed by architect William C. Albrant. The building was completed in July of 1903 and cost $40,000. The Robb-Lawrence company were manufacturer’s agents and wholesalers for agricultural implements like wagons, wind mills, cultivators, plows, buggies, trucks, trailers, pumps and harrows. Als
Read MoreHenrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland
Henrik Arnold Thoulow Wergeland (born June 17, 1808, Kristiansand, Norway – died July 12, 1845, Christiania[Oslo], Norway) was Norway’s national poet, symbol of independence and a legendary figure. He was known as a humanitarian and revolutionist whose “Patriot” political group fought against the pro-Danish “Intelligentsia.” He studied at the University of Christiania in 1825 where
Read MoreJohn Worst
John Worst spent much of his life working in education. Worst was born on December 23, 1850 in Ohio. Not much is known about his early years, however, we do know that he spent several years during his early adulthood alternating between attending college and teaching in local schools. He would eventually receive an honorary LL.D. degree from Ashland College. In 1883, Worst moved and homesteaded in Emmons County, Dak
Read MoreKatherine Kilbourne Burgum
Katherine Kilbourne Burgum ( born February 26, 1915, Minneapolis, Minnesota – Died April 12, 2005, Fargo, North Dakota) was acknowledged for her civil pride and commitment to excellence. Katherine was the daughter to Mr and Mrs Burton Kane Kilbourne who moved to Fargo from Kansas in 1923. Mr Kilbourne was a medical officer for one out of five public health demonstration sites in the United States. Taking after
Read MoreThe Fight for the County Seat-Moorhead’s Courthouses
Moorhead, Minnesota has the distinction of being the county seat of Clay County, and therefore has a county courthouse as well. The evolution of the current courthouse, built in 1954 for the cost of $704,000, on the corner of 11th Street and 8th Avenue North began with three other incarnations of the building. The first building, built in 1872, was built on 5th Street and 1st Avenue North. The site today ca
Read MoreFirst Presbyterian Church
First Presbyterian Church in Fargo was founded in 1877 with a congregation of nine people. With no church building, the built a small wooden shack on a small parcel of land donated by SG Roberts at the corner of 1st Ave and 8th Street North. This remained as the church for approximately the next twenty-eight years. At that time the church was sold to PT Tendick who moved the church and remodeled it into a housing com
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