Violent Crime
Crime Overview As railroad construction continued and industry expanded in the late 19th century, the gap between the upper and lower classes grew. With an influx of people looking to work along the...
View ArticleBootlegging
Liquor once flowed freely on both sides of the Red River at Fargo and Moorhead, but when North Dakota statehood came, saloons had to be closed by July 1, 1890. Moorhead saloons quickly filled the gap,...
View ArticleProstitution
When houses of prostitution cluster in a city, they form what is commonly called a “red-light district”. “The Hollow,” as it was called in Fargo, had a scarlet glow from the 1880s to the early 20th...
View ArticleFargo: the Divorce Capital of the Midwest
While Fargo was still a rough-and-tumble outpost, one commodity became a steady source of income: divorce. Even when lawmakers put a three-month residency requirement in place, a steady stream of...
View ArticleKu Klux Klan
Klan Background The Ku Klux Klan began in the American South after the Civil War to defy Reconstruction efforts to allow blacks to vote and hold office. It was inactive by the early 1890s, but...
View ArticleNorth Dakota Children’s Home Society
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...
View ArticleFraternal Organizations in Fargo and Moorhead
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...
View ArticleCompany B: Fargo in the Spanish-American War (1898-99)
“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...
View ArticleCivil War Veterans In Fargo
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...
View ArticleProstitution in Fargo: An Overview
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....
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