(continued)
Hop on the bus
The Northern Cass district came to be in 1997 when the Dakota and Cass Valley North districts merged.
When the districts joined, Habermann said, "We said, 'If you don't support a building, then don't come together.' We are going to be more efficient by closing down four old buildings."
Funneling every student into one building on the prairie will bring schedule and transportation changes.
For instance, every student will ride a bus.
The district has purchased a large bus to hold all 70 students who live in Arthur.
Kindergarten will go from 180 half days to 90 full days, eliminating the need for parents from the 430-square-mile district to travel to school at noon to pick up a child.
And the building was designed with a middle school in mind, for grades six through eight, replacing the seventh- and eighth-grade junior high designation.
Business on the level: Stenerson's marks
110 years
By Gerry Gilmour
The Forum
Stenerson Lumber Co. is a business built on lumber, family and faith.
The Moorhead building supplies company this year celebrates its 110th anniversary.
Les and John Stenerson are at the helm today. The brothers, on board as president and
secretary-treasurer/general manager respectively, have wanted to be in the lumber business
since the days they were youngsters and rode with their father on sales calls.
They represent the fourth generation of Stenersons steering the storied lumber business.
Also involved in the lumber and building business today are John's son, Mike, a driver,
Jay Stenerson, owner of Remodeling by Foss, and Scott Stenerson, who manages apartment
units for Stenerson Lumber Co.
Stenerson's at one time this century had lumber yards scattered in small rail towns
throughout the area. Today the company does business in Moorhead, Wahpeton and Grand
Forks, N.D., Detroit Lakes, Minn., and Fergus Falls, Minn.
The business can trace its roots to Norway. Brothers Knute and Gunder Stenerson emigrated
to America from there in 1885. After three years of logging in Wisconsin and farming in
eastern North Dakota they purchased 40 acres of wooded land near Pelican Rapids, Minn.
The brothers harvested some of their larger trees and sawed them into dimension lumber and
boards, which were sold retail in Pelican Rapids.
The owner of the local lumber yard eventually offered to sell his business to the two
young Norwegians. They had little money to invest, according to a history of the business.
But the owner told them they had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
They could pay off the indebtedness as they were able.
A third brother, Swen, who had experience in carpentry, came over and joined the brothers
in the business and they were soon selling materials and constructing buildings in the
lakes area.
Their success led to the establishment of a second yard along the railroad line being
built between Grand Forks and Duluth, Minn., in the new community of Erskine, Minn. Gunder
Stenerson took over this operation in 1893.
The brothers later purchased a yard at Mentor, Minn., and then, under a partnership with
Lars Grina, who worked at the Pelican Rapids yard, acquired yards at Erhard, Borup,
Halstad and Hendrum, all in Minnesota, and opened yards at Columbus and Kermit, N.D.
The North Dakota yards were soon closed because they were unprofitable. Les Stenerson said
it wasn't unusual at the time to have so many yards so close to one another.
"You couldn't just drive 45 miles to pick up lumber," he said. "You can
today. That's why small-town yards don't exist anymore."
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Fargo Catholic Schools Network
Now a bustling educational consortium of four schools with more than 1,000 students, the history of the Fargo Catholic Schools Network begins with five Presentation Sisters who established a school in four days.
The Presentation Sisters, who were originally from Ireland, arrived in Fargo on July 22, 1882. On July 26 St. Joseph's Academy, located in Fargo's first Catholic church, opened.
Five years later St. Joseph's Academy, which educated children ranging in age from 6 to 17, ended its last school year with 94 students. During the summer St. Joseph's was transformed into St. John's Orphanage and Free School.
The new school, Sacred Heart Academy , opened in 1897.
In 1915 the school moved to a new 41/2-story brick building. That building, now Queen of Peace Catholic Center, still stands on north Broadway. The school trained teachers and secretaries, as well as offering classical and scientific studies. The eight elementary grades were also part of Sacred Heart's program.
The school saw continued growth through the 1920s and 1930s, despite economic depression in the area.
In 1922 St. Anthony of Padua School in Fargo opened with 157 pupils in grades 1-8. Enrollment continued to increase and a new addition was opened in 1928.
In the 1940s it became apparent the facilities at Sacred Heart were becoming inadequate. A new school named after the diocese's first bishop, John Shanley, was built and owned by the Fargo diocese.
Shanley High School sustained much damage when a tornado struck Fargo in 1957. The school was rebuilt for the following school year. Courtesy of Shanley High School
Shanley High School opened in January 1950. Seven years later the building was rebuilt after being badly damaged by the 1957 tornado. The Christian Brothers, a religious order, came to administer and teach at the school in 1964. They and the Presentation Sisters remained in the school until 1989.
The first class of eighth graders graduated from Holy Spirit School in 1953. Courtesy of Holy Spirit School
In 1952 Holy Spirit grade school opened with 182 students. Nine years later Nativity parish opened a grade school with 355 students. Two original employees, Gordy Johansen, head of maintenance, and secretary Carol Johansen still work there today.
By 1991 all Catholic schools were part of the Fargo Catholic Schools Network. Sister Mary T. Fenton, who taught at Holy Spirit, was the last Presentation Sister on the faculty of the schools when she left in 1994.
In 1998 St. Anthony's closed and students were moved toSullivan Middle School , located at the site of the former Interstate Business College in south Fargo. The number of students had outgrown the former site.
