Thanks to the railroad, folks at the blossoming Fargo-Moorhead area could get from place to place in a relatively short amount of time. The railroad and Fargo-Moorhead's proximity to the Red River were key factors in the area's growth. Photo/Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU Libraries

The little engine that could River and railroads boost F-M economy as regional power
By Patrick Springer
The Forum

Photo/Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU Libraries

So much happens because of the accident of geography. Or, as any real estate agent will say, success in business depends on three factors: location, location and location.

All three favored what became Fargo-Moorhead.

First there was water. The Red River served as a natural north-south corridor and formed the watery nexus between the eastern woodlands and western plains.

Oxcart trails followed the river, then steamboats chugged up and down its waters with merchandise, and later railroads crossed at the heart of the Red River Valley.

Another logistical factor proved providential: There really wasn't anyplace else to compete with Fargo-Moorhead along the northern tier of states between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Seattle. Along with Sioux Falls, S.D., and Billings, Mont., Fargo-Moorhead has served as one of the few major trade hubs between metropolises.

"I think Fargo has benefited a lot because there was no other big city close to it," says David Danbom, a history professor at North Dakota State University.

The railroads: Everything changed with the railroads and the huge volume of goods and people the Iron Horse carried, as well as the investment that followed its tracks.

"Historically, it's hard to overemphasize the railroads," Danbom says. Three rail lines passed through town: the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern and the Milwaukee. That meant competition and lower freight rates, which benefited local merchants, farmers and manufacturers, Danbom says.

"The era of railroad construction marks the beginning of Fargo as a city," according to the Fargo Historic Context Study, commissioned by the Fargo Historic Preservation Commission in 1993. "Nationally this was an era of immigration, urbanization and industrialization.

"Fargo shared in this growth, becoming a trade center and distribution hub for an expanding agricultural empire," write the study's authors, Tim Holzkamm and the late Dean Dormanen. "Fargo prospered with shops, warehouses and some manufacturing."

The era of the automobile followed the era of the railroad, as a network of roads and highways connected rural areas and urban centers.

Trade development slowed during the period between World War I and World War II, but grew rapidly after 1945. Air service came during the interlude, in 1931, when Hector Airport opened.

The arrival of the Interstate highway system, which came in the 1960s and early 1970s, was probably the biggest boost to trade and distribution in Fargo-Moorhead since the arrival of the railroads a century earlier.

Photo/Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU Libraries

"That really made it a lot easier to tap the hinterland," Danbom says. And the emergence on the prairie of the West Acres Regional Shopping Center in 1972, at the junction of Interstates 29 and 94, was emblematic of the new era in retail trade. Less visible has been the steady growth in wholesale distributors.

- Continued -

1870 to 1900: Birth of a Trade Center - Fargo-Moorhead dawns as a trading hub and education center. Two transcontinental railroads - the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern - lay track, as does the Milwaukee Railroad. Bonanza farms bloom and then are dismantled. The Great Dakota Boom of the 1880s succumbs to the depression of the 1890s.

1881: Fargo-Moorhead Telephone Exchange Co., now U S West, begins service. The switchboard is equipped with 50 bells, one for each line. Long-distance service - Fargo to Casselton - arrives in 1887.

1888: Moorhead Normal School, now Moorhead State University, admits its first students.

1891: First classes held at North Dakota Agricultural College, now North Dakota State University. Concordia College is established.

1891: Fargo's population 5,664. Major fire destroys 140 residences and 219 businesses.

1894: deLendrecie's department store, established in 1879, opens what is now Block Six.

1900 to 1910: Consolidating Growth. E Fargo-Moorhead's second boom fuels growth, lasting from 1898 until World War I. Transportation systems mature: The era of railroad construction ends and the era of highway construction begins. Retailing begins to thrive. Local expansion parallels national prosperity.

1900: Northern Pacific Depot built on Main Avenue.

1900: The city directory lists 22 agricultural implement dealers, including J.I. Case Co.

1904: St. John's Hospital is built. Now consolidated into Dakota Heartland Hospital.

1909: St. Luke's Hospital built. Now MeritCare Hospital.

1906: Great Northern RR Depot built on Fifth Avenue in Fargo.

1914: Ford Motor Co. builds an assembly plant at 505 Broadway, now Kaye's Printing. - 1920 to 1940 -
Continuing Growth

Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU Libraries

- Economic stability yields to retrenchment and the Great Depression. North Dakota's economy deteriorates in the 1920s. Yet F-M continues to grow as a trade center. Local merchants challenge rail-freight rates and prevail in 1925, aiding new and existing processing and manufacturing. Air service begins.

1921: The Merchants National Bank, now part of US Bank, is built at 122 Broadway in Fargo, exemplifying Fargo-Moorhead's position as a financial center.

- Continued -