Welcome to Riverside Cemetery
Established in 1879, Riverside Cemetery is Fargo’s oldest, and largest, cemetery with over 18,000 citizens of the dead.In 1880 Fargo’s sprawl only reached as far south as Roberts Street (now Seventh Avenue), putting the cemetery a mile and a half outside of town. Why the long trek?Before 1830 cemeteries like this one were non-existent. The dead were generally buried near the town chapel or in the town commons (places like Island Park) but those locations were filling. Coffins were sometimes stacked six deep causing tremendous issues during floods, when the earth would crumble away or sink. As well, cholera and yellow fever outbreaks in the larger cities in America had led to bodies waiting to be buried and the fear that disease would spread from the deceased to the living. Luckily, by the time folks were settling the Fargo Township, rural cemeteries were the well-established norm, and Island Park, since its establishment as such by European settlers, has never used as a burial ground.In the early days of Riverside, most funerals were still taking place in the home, but the chapel on the grounds was used as well. A horse drawn carriage would have carried the decedent to the east side of the building to offloaded for services in the main chapel. That chapel, now restored, is the brick building at the center of the grounds. It is used for administrative offices and contains a cremation unit.Riverside's first burial was Mrs. Climena Lowell, interred in 1878, over a year before the cemetery was surveyed for the purpose of a burial ground. Later, as the cemetery lands grew and land was bought and sold, Mrs. Lowell's husband, Jacob, and son, Jacob Jr., would own block 13, the section she's buried in, while the rest of the acres would go to Louis B. Hanna, who you'll learn about later.In 1903, to secure the title of Riverside Cemtery, the graveyard association was formed with a president, secretary, treasurer, and board of directors. Hanna, treasurer, sold his portions to the association and they continued buying land to add to the booming business of death. 260 red cedars were planted in 1903, 6 acres was purchased to become the superintendent's residence, and crops had to be dug up and removed at a cost to allow the cemetery's expansion. Park Addition was made in 1906, the mortuary and reception vault were built in 1909, the mausoleum was built in 1920, and a horse-drawn lawnmower was purchased in 1920, as well. A recent interview with Riverside Cemetery employees revealed that early records, like the "field notes" seen here are hard to read and that over time, as Riverside expanded and became bordered by I-94, a few of Fargo's decedents may still be buried in Lindenwood Park.Sources:“Riverside Cemetery: Fargo.” Accessed October 14, 2016. http://www.riversidefargo.com/history.php. Greenfield, Rebecca. “Our First Public Parks: The Forgotten History of Cemeteries.” The Atlantic, March 16, 2011. http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/03/our-first-public-parks-the-forgotten-history-of-cemeteries/71818/. Blackorby, Edward C. “William Lemke: Agrarian Radical and Union Party Presidential Candidate.” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 49, no. 1 (1962): 67–84. doi:10.2307/1889466. Workman, Maxine. "History of Riverside Cemetery." The River Genealogical Society, August 3, 1994. Accessed at Riverside office by Shannon Ueker, November 9, 2016 with permission from Katie Haugen.
S. Marius Houkom
S. Marius Houkom was born Sveinung Marius Houkom on April 24, 1891 in Mekinock, North Dakota. Originally a farmer, he eventually earned a college education at North Dakota Agricultural College, now NDSU, and later the University of Michigan for architecture. He became a partner in Braseth and Houkom, an architecture firm, in the early 1920’s until he established his own during World War II. He opened one more partnership firm for five years in the 1950’s and then practiced independently until 1978. Some of his architectural projects in Fargo include the original Island Park Pool, NDSU field house, and many churches. He also designed several houses and other commercial buildings in the area. Houkom served as the president and vice president of the North Dakota State Board of Architecture. After he retired in 1978 he moved to Wisconsin and lived with his daughter until he died on November 3, 1980.Sources:“S. Marius Houkom Papers, 1922- 1977”. 2009. Finding Aid Institute for Regional Studies & University Archives North Dakota State University Libraries. Fargo, ND. October 24, 2016.
John and Constance Boler
One of the broadcasting pioneers in Fargo, and throughout the state of North Dakota, was John Boler. At the height of his career, Boler managed 100 radio stations throughout the region, many of which he owned. Boler also foresaw the rise of television signing on the city’s second television station (Behind WDAY-TV), KXJB-TV (Now KRDK-TV.) While KXJB’s signal had always served Fargo, the station’s studios were originally in Valley City.Later in his career, Boler led an initiative to bring educational television (now Public Broadcasting) to the state of North Dakota. With a two million dollar investment (half from the federal government, the other half from private investors), Boler set up a four-station broadcasting system in Bismarck, Minot, Grand Forks and the flagship being the present day KFME-TV in Fargo. John Boler died in Palm Desert, Calif., in 1994.John's wife, Constance (Connie Blackstead) attended Concordia College and Minot Business Institute and worked as a legal secretary for firms in Bismarck and Casper, Wyo., before serving in the Women's Army Corps in 1944 and 1945 where she was attached to the Air Transport Command at Morrison Field, West Palm Beach, Fla. She was then administrative assistant to Dr. Fred S. Hultz, president of North Dakota Agricultural College from 1949 to 1952.She was employed by the North Dakota Broadcasting Company from 1957 to 1966 and served in many capacities at KXJB-TV and was station manager of KXAB-TV, Aberdeen, S.D., in 1958. John and Constance married on July 2, 1966 and lived in rural Fargo until they retired to Palm Springs, CA in 1974. The couple travelled Europe, North Africa, the Caribbean, and the Asian Pacific and fished Canada, Minnesota, Jamaica, and the Gulf of Mexico. They spent summers at their lake homes in Walker and Bemidji, MN. Connie moved to Bismarck in 2005, after John's death, and lived to be 86.Sources:Fargo, Forum Communications Company 101 5th Street North, and ND 58102 Call us at235-7311. “North Dakota’s TV Pioneer Later Developed Fargo Shopping Mal...,” August 13, 2016. http://www.inforum.com/news/4093633-north-dakotas-tv-pioneer-later-developed-fargo-shopping-malls. Tribune, The Bismarck. “Constance Boler.” Bismarck Tribune. Accessed November 19, 2016. http://bismarcktribune.com/lifestyles/announcements/obituaries/constance-boler/article_f53f3a0a-b5e1-52b5-823f-037d337a3052.html.
Samuel Magill
Samuel Magill was born in Pennsylvania in 1832. Throughout his life he traveled many places including New York, Minnesota, Iowa, Fargo, and Chicago.In Chicago first, and then Iowa, Magill was a lumber dealer and builder. He also became a father while living in the Clinton, Iowa area. His son, Henry, would later run the family business in Fargo. He served in the Civil War with Iowa 26th Regiment Infantry. While serving in Helena, Arkansas, Magill was "captured by a part of guerrillas" and carried as a prisoner to Vicksburg. He was later paroled and mustered out in December 1862. (2)After coming north in 1879, Colonel Magill began a grain business, Barnes and Magill, with a man named G.S. Barnes. In 1881 Samuel Magill moved to Fargo and in 1884 started the Magill & Company with his son Henry. A local paper announced the building permit, stating, "it is to be of solid brick, to have a front of 100 feet on Broadway, two stories and a basement in height, with an ornamental caping and cornice. Still, to the rear of this it is the firm's desire to build an elevator...32 feet in height. The structure with heavy cribbing and sheeted with iron would make it practically fire proof." (3) Magill and Co was in the unfortunate position of being on the corner of Front St (now Main) and Broadway in 1893; right across the street from where the Great Fargo Fire is said to have begun. It was said pieces of twine atop the warehouse caught light and spread downward engulfing the structure. An onlooker describing the site said, “hell itself could not have presented a more terrible picture.”(4)Magill rebuilt after the fire and Henry continued the business later, after his father left for Chicago and then died. Samuel Magiill passed away in Chicago on December 21, 1899 and he buried here at Riverside.Sources:Compenium History and Bigraphy of North Dakota. Chicago, G.A.Ogle. 1900. https://archive.org/stream/compendiumhistor00chic#page/1305/mode/1up “U.S. Gen Web Archives.” Accessed December 10, 2016. http://files.usgwarchives.net/ia/clinton/military/civilwar/other/magill222gmt.txt. Article clipping from unknown newspaper. NDSU Archives, "Magill family papers" collection. Accessed December 2, 2016. “Special Fire Edition,” Argus (Fargo, ND), June 7, 1894. Photo courtesy of: "Fargo, Cass County, ND 1892". Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for North Dakota, Institute for Regional Studies, North Dakota State University, Fargo.
Dr. Ada Jane Healy-Andrews
Born in Michigan in 1852, Ada Jane Healy, along with her sister Emma, were orphaned when Ada was only 7. Ada’s mom had died in child birth and her father lost his footing moving from car to car and was killed under a train. Ada and Emma grew up in Ann Arbor, MI with their maternal grandmother, Subniet Disbrow, and their widowed Aunt Abigail. Perhaps it was growing up in a college town, perhaps it was Subniet’s work as a nurse, perhaps it was that Aunt Abigail was courted by and later married historian Charles Adams (later president of the American Historical Association and Cornell Universisty); whatever it was the drove her, Ada attended University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. She became a physician.Ada met and married Albion Andrews, a classmate, in 1879. Albion had tried his hand at farming in Nebraska after receving an Ag Bachelor’s from Cornell, but pulled up roots and headed back to college in the mid-1870’s following a grasshopper plague and stifling drought.After school and internships in New York, the couple, along with sister Emma, came to the Wild West in May 1880. They settled outside of Fargo on land along the Maple River just northeast of Mapleton. Ada would become North Dakota’s first practicing female physician. The couple farmed, practiced medicine, raised a family, and ran a drugstore in Mapleton before, in 1898, Albion became ill and the family moved to Fargo.Ada Jane Healy-Andrews made her mark on Fargo after Albion’s death in 1904, becoming a founding member of Unitarian Church, whose original building still stands and is used as Fargo’s Unitarian Church at 121 9th St S. She was also a founding member of Fargo’s Fine Arts Club, the building at the SE corner of Island Park.Fun Facts: Ada's son Mark Sr., at rest here with her, was Cass County Sheriff during the prohibition and ran rum runners out of Fargo. He took on this position, however, only after going to college in New York to study voice and sing with the Metropolitan Opera!Ada's grandson and Mark's son, born in 1926, is former U.S. Congressman Mark Andrews, Jr. Mark's daughter, Sara, graduated from Michigan Law School in 1977, exact 100 years after Ada and Albion graduated from Michigan Medical school.Sources: Fargo, Forum Communications Company 101 5th Street North, and Curtis Eriksmoen. “Did You Know That: From Orphan to Physician, ND’s First Female Doctor,” November 22, 2015. http://www.inforum.com/news/3888086-did-you-know-orphan-physician-nds-first-female-doctor. Ancestry.com. Year:1870; Census Place: Ann Arbor Ward 6, Washtenaw, Michigan; Roll: M593_707; Page: 110B; Image: 151179; Family History Library Film: 552206. Ancestry.com. U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Collection Number: G&M_95; Roll Number: 95. Ford-Dunker, Russell. “Dakota Datebook.” Prairie Public Broadcasting. Mark Andrews’ 80th, May 19, 2006. http://www.prairiepublic.org. 5. The Michigan Alumnus. 8th ed. Vol. 83. UM Libraries, 1977.
Andrew Ginakes
Was Andrew Ginakes a prohibition criminal?Andrew D. Ginakes came from Greece around 1915. His 1917 World War I draft card lists him as 21, single, not living with his parents, meduim height, medium build, working as a soda jerk and having a crippled arm. He was drafted into the 166th Depot Brigade at Camp Lewis, near Tacoma, WA. He was dicharged in March 1919. Beginning in 1927, Fargo City Directories show Ginakes as owner of chocolate shops on the first, second, and fourth blocks of Broadway. That's a lot of chocolatiers for a town of 22,000 people.Minot's city directory shows that a branch of Ginakes Bro. Confectionry opened in 1930. We know from other researc on "Rum Running" that Minot was often a drop point for alcohol coming in from Canada. Some Minot police tried to befriend smugglers in a failed attempt at undercover work.Back in Fargo, the 1932 city directory shows Andrew as president of the Golden Maid Cafe, which had been opened in 1925 by a fellow greek immigrant. In 1936, Ginakes applied for one of the first liquor licenses in Fargo for the Empire Cafe, conveinently at the same location as the 424 Broadway chocolate shop, to sell alcohol in store. Archival records state that in 1943, Ginakes transitioned the property into the Empire Liquor Store.Ginakes sold The Empire in 1947, but it still flourishesin its original location on the 400 block of Broadway to this day, with the liquor store still attached. Did he retire due to age, to wealth, or due to a premonition he didn't like about Fargo's future with alcohol?What do you think? Did a man who started as a soda jerk with a crippled arm from Greece really run chocolate shops and cafes in Fargo and Minot or did he build "The Empire" he held in North Dakota another way? Sources:Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. “Fargo History Project » Bootlegging.” Accessed November 28, 2016. http://fargohistory.com/bootlegging/.
Smith Stimmel
Smith Stimmel was born in Ohio in 1842. After joining the military at age 20 during the Civil War he was appointed to the Union Light Guard and assigned to The White House. From December of 1863 until April 14, 1865, Stimmel was a bodyguard to President Lincoln. Following Lincoln’s assassination, Stimmel returned home to attend Ohio Wesleyan University, graduating in 1869. He practiced law, married, and was mayor of Carthage, Ohio before moving to Fargo in 1882.Along with practicing law, it is believed Stimmel managed a Bonanza farm outside Fargo near Wheatland. Plat maps show his land near the meeting points of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific lines just east of town.Active in politics, Stimmel became territorial council president in 1889, and helped lead North Dakota to statehood that same year. He would continue to be instrumental in the shaping of ND as the chair of Fargo's Civil War Veteran Monument Committee. The efforts of Stimmel and the committee paid off in the form of the Union soldier, dedicated in 1916, who guards the north entry to Island Park.In 1914 Stimmel was the guest speaker at the unveiling of a Lincoln bust created by Valley City, North Dakota's Paul Fjelde and dedicated in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. See a photo here and read his speech from that day here.Stimmel eventually returned to law and practiced in Fargo until the 1920’s. In 1928 Stimmel’s Personal Reminessences of Abraham Lincoln was published. It is available to read free online here.Smith Stimmel died of old age at 92 in 1935. At home with his wife at 119 11th St S., he passed on April 14th – the same date Lincoln was shot 70 years before.Sources:Valentine, Scott. “Highly Honorable and Strictly Confidential Service.” Military Images, June 2, 2016. https://militaryimages.atavist.com/highly-honorable-and-strictly-confidential-service-summer-2016. University, Ohio Wesleyan. Quinquennial Catalogue of the Ohio Wesleyan University, 1842-1886. The Ohio Wesleyan University, 1886. “U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918 - AncestryLibrary.com.” Accessed October 16, 2016. “Dakota Datebook.” Prairie Public Broadcasting. Accessed October 30, 2016. http://www.prairiepublic.org. “AncestryLibrary.com - 1900 United States Federal Census.” Accessed October 15, 2016. Stimmel in Civil War uniform via www.findagrave.com Stimmel obituary photo via Fargo Forum and Daily Republican, microfilm from NDSU Archives.
William Lemke
William Frederick Lemke, US Congressman and Union Party Candidate for President in 1936 (FDR won)William Lemke led a rather fascinating life as a fringe politician. He was affiliated with North Dakota's Nonpartisan League, led by former Socialist party members. The NPL dominated state government by 1918 with ideas to improve state services, obtain full suffrage for women, and move towards state ownership of banks, mills and elevators, and insurances. The NPL left an indelible mark on the state. The Bank of North Dakota at Bismarck, opened in 1919, has become a large and powerful economic force; the State Mill and Elevator at Grand Forks, completed in 1922, provided a market for grain and a source of feed and seed; the state hail insurance program benefitted many farmers until its elimination in the 1960s. Perhaps most importantly, the NPL established an insurgent tradition in the state that blurred party lines for four decades, and both the Nonpartisan League and the Independent Voter's Association (another third party group) elevated a generation of leaders to power. (2)Following his association with the defunct NPL, Lemke disappeared from politics for a while. It is said that the Great Depression offered him a new rise to office. Folks recalled he'd fought for the farmer before and he was elected to represent North Dakota in the United States House of Representatives in 1933 until 1941, and again in 1943 until his death in 1950.Lemke was a man who wanted to protect farmers but often came across as stubborn and unrefined to those in Washington. One reporter described him as “a skinny little guy with a puckering squint of a smile, and a casting director would type him for a hick…He went to Yale…and went around more colleges than an old-time tramp athlete and he is positively no yokel.” (3) He did pass the Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act of 1934, co-authored by long-time fellow ND politician and college friend, Lynn Frazier. The Act allowed farmers forced to declare bankruptcy to remain on their farms.Sources: “Riverside Cemetery: Fargo.” Accessed October 14, 2016. http://www.riversidefargo.com/history.php. “Nonpartisan League - Summary of North Dakota History - State Historical Society of North Dakota.” Accessed December 4, 2016. http://history.nd.gov/ndhistory/npl.html. Blackorby, Edward C. “William Lemke: Agrarian Radical and Union Party Presidential Candidate.” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 49, no. 1 (1962): 67–84. doi:10.2307/1889466.
Birta (Bertha) Mattson Oldham
As you approach this spot on the tour, you may wonder if you are in the right place as there is no tombstone for Birta Oldham. You may notice that there is what seems to be a lot of "open space" in this section, but section 31 is full. It is full of mostly folks just like Birta; those who were buried alone. Section 31 is one of the soberest parts of Riverside, to me. While you may see tokens of affection and remembrance in several sections of Riverside, there are almost none here. When thinking about our history, it is important to learn how we all lived, not just our doctors, businessmen, and politicians, but folks like Birta, too.If she had a stone here, it might say: Birta Mattson Oldham, Born Oct 3, 1890, Died Oct 19, 1919. Of course, that wouldn't tell you much, but it would tell you she was here, and is here still, right below you.Birta was born in Stockholm, Sweden on October 3, 1890 and would live just two weeks into her 29th year. She married Thomas a week after her 20th birthday in 1910 in Fergus Falls, MN.On Birta's 21st birthday, she was pregnant.On Birta's 22nd birthday, she was pregnant.On her 23rd birthday, Birta had probably just discovered she was expecting. again. For her 25th birthday, Birta was in her final weeks of pregnancy.During 1916, 17, and 18, Birta was without a birth, but again in 1918 she conceived and bore Albert, who came on Saturday, October 11th. Birta died 8 days later, on Sunday, October 19, 1918. A victim of Spanish Flu that became pnumonia, she was unable to recover.The Spanish Flu's origin was linked to either Spain, hence the name, or a military base in Kansas. While other strains of the flu usually hit the very young and the very old, citizens would learn the hard way that the Spanish flu primarily killed those in the 20-to-35-age group.State governments in MN and ND did nothing to warn of the illness, nor did city government. On October 1, 1918, the Forum reported the epidemic was serious and people should get plenty of fresh air. Two days later, there were 100 cases of the flu in Fargo.Through early October, Fargo-Moorhead had more than 2,000 people down with the flu, with about 250 new cases being reported every day. Fargo hospitals were at capacity, while Moorhead faired far better.The Forum reported that 124 people in Fargo died in October, the worst death toll from one cause in the city's history. By early November, the number of new cases of flu dropped sharply. The flu resurfaced in late November, then subsided. By January 1919, the epidemic was virtually over. (3)After Birta died, the 1920 census shows that Thomas Oldham was a railroad worker who boarded on Broadway. That year's census also shows Arthur, age 5, living as an adopted child with John and Emelia Anderson. None of the other children are listed in Fargo.In 1930, Arthur is listed as a 15 year old "lodger" at the Anderson's address, 1326 4th Ave N. Also in 1930, Theodore and William, age 17, reappear in Hillsdale, MN as "foster sons" to the Strenzke family. Albert and Edith are never mentioned. Edith is now buried in California. Albert's connection to the Oldham family was lost.Birta's husband, Thomas, would would remarry in Omaha in May 1922 and have two more children with his second wife. He and she are resting beneath lovely headstones in Valhalla Memorial Park, North Hollywood, CA.Sources:Sullivan, Kathy. “Bertha J ‘Birta/Beda’ Mattson Oldham (1890 - 1918) - Find A Grave Memorial.” Accessed December 5, 2016. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=oldham&GSfn=bertha&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=30&GScnty=1759&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=93194490&df=all&. Sullivan, Kathy. “Thomas Edward ‘Tom’ Oldham (1880 - 1931) - Find A Grave Memorial.” Find A Grave, June 25, 2012. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=92505652. Fargo, Forum Communications Company 101 5th Street North, and ND 58102 Call us at235-7311. “1918 Flu Outbreak Hit Fargo Hardest,” May 23, 2014. http://www.inforum.com/content/1918-flu-outbreak-hit-fargo-hardest. Ancestry.com. Year: 1920; Census Place: Fargo Ward 5, Cass, North Dakota; Roll: T625_1332; Page: 20B; Enumeration District: 18; Image: 457. Ancestry.com. Year: 1920; Census Place: Fargo Ward 5, Cass, North Dakota; Roll: T625_1332; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 18; Image: 425. Ancestry.comYear: 1930; Census Place: Fargo, Cass, North Dakota; Roll: 1733; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0041; Image: 972.0; FHL microfilm: 2341467
Erasmus Angell
E.D. Angell came to Fargo in August 1881 from New York. Born in 1855 to native New Yorkers who farmed in tiny Lapeer, Erasmus attended local primary schools, Cazenovia Seminary, and Syracuse University, graduating in 1880. He taught for a season at the orphan school in Mansfield, PA before trekking over 1300 miles to Fargo.Upon arrival he worked for a short time as a thresher near Casselton. He then worked for N.K. Hubbard, who had purchased the first two business lots put for sale in Fargo in 1873. By December of his arrival year, Erasmus had settled permanently in Fargo and began work in real estate.1 By 1889, when Erasmus married Jennie Burns, a classmate from Syracuse, he and new business partner Charles Darling were in ownership of prime parcels from Canada, Angell’s area of knowledge, to Nebraska, Darling’s focus.In 1917, after 30 years together, Darling headed west. That same year it was written of Angell that “his business activity, his public-spirited citizenship, and his devotion to the general welfare combine to make Mr. Angell one of the representative and leading residents of Fargo. He has been associated closely with the city’s interests of a third of a century, his memory forming a connecting link between primitive past and the progressive present.”I wonder, after learning that Angell and Darling grew up 11 years apart in age, but only 7 miles apart in distance, if they knew one another, or ever expected to meet up again in the Wild West that was Fargo in the 1880’s. I hope that as you meet the Darling’s later in the tour, you’ll ponder what drives some men to settle down while others feel the need to move on.A side note, from doing research on the family: Erasmus’s mom Sarah Lake’s family can be traced back to the voyage from Bristol, England in 1635 to his plot here in Fargo! Only one of Angell’s six siblings had any children that lived through infanthood. Angell’s nephew, Wilmer Smith, never left Lapeer, NY where he was born, never married or had children, and died in 1946, thereby ending a 311 year Lake legacy in America.Sources:Clement Augustus Loungberry. North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History. Vol. II. III vols. Chicago: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1917. https://archive.org/stream/northdakotahisto02loun#page/217/mode/1up. Accessed November 19, 2016. Fargo, the Gateway of the Northeast. H.S. Reed & Company, 1888. https://books.google.com/books/about/Fargo_the_Gateway_of_the_Northeast.html?id=OCYaAAAAYAAJ.
Robert Gibb
Robert Gibb Senior, shown on the right in the black and white photo, was a Scottish immigrant who established himself in Fargo, North Dakota. In 1915 he founded Robert Gibb & Sons, an industrial company focusing on plumbing, heating, air conditioning, electrical wiring, and underground sewer and water utilities. After World War II his sons would join him in running the business and have continued to expand the firm. The business would become highly profitable and remains in family handstoday as they have continued to follow Robert’s emphasis on quality and excellence. The Gibb Family would contribute $50,000 dollars to the Fargo Park District and the Gibb Plaza at the north entry of downtown Fargo's Island Park was dedicated in his honor.Sources:“Our Story,” Robert Gibb & Sons, http://www.robertgibb.com/about/. “Gibb Plaza dedication today at Island Park,” Inforum, (Inforum and Forum Communications Company,) http://www.inforum.com/content/gibb-plaza-dedication-today-island-park.
Arthur Oldham
This is the veteran section of Riverside Cemetery. Though veterans can be interred anywhere in the cemetery, ONLY veterans and their family can be laid here.You may recall the last name Oldham from a few stops ago when we met dear Birta. Arthur is her third son. He stayed in Fargo, adopted in by John and Emelia Anderson who were in their late 40's. In the 1930's and 40's, Arthur is still shown living at 1326 4th St N.On July 27th, 1940, Authur married Marie Olson also of Fargo. In 1942, Arthur was drafted into WWII at age 28. He was honorably discharged December 14, 1945. He passed away in 1949. Sources: Ancestry.com. Year: 1920; Census Place: Fargo Ward 5, Cass, North Dakota; Roll: T625_1332; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 18; Image: 425. Ancestry.comYear: 1930; Census Place: Fargo, Cass, North Dakota; Roll: 1733; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0041; Image: 972.0; FHL microfilm: 2341467
Elmer Hartlett Thompson
Born in February 1892 in Appleton, MN, Thompson was the first ND boy returned home for burial from World War I. Elmer was 25 when he was drafted in Minneapolis and sent to Camp Jackson, South Carolina, a new complex that was still being built when he left home for the south.Camp Jackson, later Fort Jackson, was built in six month in late 1917 specifically to train America's darfted young men. All 1,519 buildings, including theaters, stores, kitchens, barracks, officers’ quarters, training facilities, stables, warehouses, garages, an airfield, roads, bridges, railroads, a reservoir and water lines, sewers, wells, heating plants, and a laundry were built to completion in six months time. (1)From Camp Jackson, South Carolina, Elmer, the only son of the four Thompson children, was sent to France where he was in the midst of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. This final push would lead to Armistace on November 11. Elmer's assignment was 3rd Provisional Ordnance Detachmant Battalion. These Provisional Battalions were set up to work with industry in France to supply the American troops with needed supplies. How did Elmer die? Which part of war was it? Was it the 160 mile long, wet, cold November walk from France to Koblenz, Germany? Was it the Spanish Flu ripping through the troops? The lack of food? Elmer Thompson died April 6, 1919, long after Armistace Day. He was buried in Koblenz, unearthed at his family's request, and returned to Fargo on July 29, 1920.The August 5, 1920 Valley City Times article, image attached, indicates that Elmer was laid to rest here on August 4, 1920, honored with a full military funeral.Sources: “50th Anniversary History, 1917-1967, Fort Jackson, South Carolina | Fort Jackson.” Accessed December 3, 2016. http://jackson.armylive.dodlive.mil/post/museum/50th-anniversary-history/. “History of the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps.” Accessed December 3, 2016. http://www.goordnance.army.mil/history/ORDhistory.html. California State Library; Sacramento; Roster from the State of North Dakota Volume 4. Ancestry.com. U.S., Adjutant General Military Records, 1631-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Samuel F. Crabbe
Samuel Crabbe, born in Wisconsin to a merchant and his wife, came to Fargo in 1891. Sam had his civil engineering degree from University of Wisconsin and his first job in Fargo was to oversee the paving of Fargo’s first street. Broadway was to be paved with wooden blocks. As Fargo City Engineer, Crabbe had an office in City Hall and lived a few blocks west of his work. In the photo from 1897 blocks of wood can be seen floating down flooded Front Street (now Main) in Fargo.Sam had an interesting hobby outside of work: dairy cows. He purchased C.W. Darling’s farm when the Darlings left for California and then ordered seven purebred Jersey cows from the Island of Jersey just off the coast of France in the English Channel. Crabbe’s stock became one of the top herds in America and his friendship with North Dakota Agricultural College (later NDSU) is said to have heavily influenced the growth of the dairy aspect of ag teaching.Crabbe’s best producing cow, Noble’s Golden Marguerite, produced 977 pounds of butterfat in 1922, setting a ND record. When Marguerite passed away in 1932, NDAC’s President Sheppard suggested she be buried in front of the Dairy Building. Her grave was marked with a plaque that is still on display in front of Sheppard Arena at NDSU, though Marguerite herself is still buried in her original location, now the home of NDSU Geology Department.When Crabbe left Fargo, the city was at his doorstep, having moved further south to near today's 17th Ave S. Crabbe broke his property into city lots, selling some to the City of Fargo. This portion would become part of Linden Woods, later Lindenwood Park.Sources:N/A. “Noble’s Golden Marguerite,” August 4, 2014. https://library.ndsu.edu/repository/handle/10365/23593. Boe, Matthew. “Noble’s Golden Marguerite Monument,” Fall 2007. http://heritagerenewal.org/stone/marguerite.htm. NDSU Archives “Fargo Parks” file, newspaper clipping from unknown source.
Burleigh Spalding
Burleigh Spalding was born on December 3, 1853 in Vermont. He made his way to Fargo where he both defended a convicted murderer as a lawyer and was a U.S. Congressman - at the same time.Raised in Vermont where he attended military school, Burleigh began studying law in his spare time and became a practicing lawyer after moving to the Dakota Territory. He was part of the North Dakota Constitutional Convention and after two terms in Congress, was appointed to the North Dakota Supreme Court,serving from 1907 until his defeat in 1914. Along with his work in law and politics, he founded and was President of Merchants National Bank of Fargo. Of several cases Mr. Spalding worked on, perhaps the case of John Rooney would be his most memorable; it has certainly left an impression on North Dakota. John Rooney was hanged in Bismarck Penitentiary on October 17, 1905 making him the last person legally executed in ND, and the only person executed indoors in the state. Charged with first degree murder in summer 1902, he was convicted in 1903, just as Spalding began his second term in Congress. Why Stambaugh and Spalding took the case is unsure, but it went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, not because of the allegation, but due to a change that had been made in state law during the trial. The murder charge was never overturned and the charged man never waivered in his insistance on innocence. At his execution, John Rooney thanked his lawyers, Stambaugh and Spalding, for their “noble fight for the life of a penniless man.” (2)Sources:"Burleigh F. Spalding." Burleigh F. Spalding. Accessed November 29, 2016. http://www.ndcourts.gov/court/bios/spalding.html. “John Rooney ( – 1905) – Find A Grave Memorial.” Accessed December 4, 2016. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=164993692 Spalding bust courtesy of Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU, Fargo (P228.1) “Fargo History Project » Violent Crime.” Accessed December 4, 2016. http://fargohistory.com/violent-crime/. “JOHN ROONEY, , v. STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA.” LII / Legal Information Institute. Accessed December 4, 2016. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/196/319.
Louis B. Hanna
You may recall the name Loius Hanna from point one on this tour. He owned land in Riverside Cemetery and was Treasurer of the Cemetery Association. Hanna, originally from Pennsylvania, was also a successful businessman and a man of politics.In 1910 as a congressman, he would work with the European settlers of Plaza, just north of Fort Berthold. As Plaza grew, so did the need for farm land. Hanna, as a member of House of Representatives Committee on Indian Affairs, would work to open tribal land to settlers. To succeed, he worked to raise the amount of payment to the Arikara, Hidatsa, and Mandan for the land; however, the money paid went to the U.S. Treasury. Congress had control of the money to appropriate for education, support, and “civilization” on the reservation. (1)Later, as North Dakota's 11th Governor, Hanna would travel to Norway in 1914 with Smith Stimmel to present and dedicate the Abraham Lincoln statue in Christiania (Oslo), Norway. Later in WWI he served in France and captian of the American Red Cross.Sources: “Section 5: Opening the Reservation | North Dakota Studies.” Accessed December 2, 2016. http://ndstudies.gov/gr8/content/unit-iii-waves-development-1861-1920/lesson-1-changing-landscapes/topic-4-reservation-boundaries/section-5-opening-reservation. “Louis B. Hanna - North Dakota Governors Online Exhibit - Exhibits - State Historical Society of North Dakota.” Accessed December 2, 2016. http://www.history.nd.gov/exhibits/governors/governors11.html.
I-94
As I author this entry, I’m sitting at home on 25th Ave S on a lovely October 2016 evening with the windows open listening to the traffic on I-94 only a few blocks north of me. In 1958, when this section was being constructed, the city hadn’t crept much past 17th Ave S, meaning Lindenwood Park was just south of town. Fargo now stretches down the Red River of the North to 76th Ave South!I-94 was a big deal in ND, with the first section of road ever constructed in any state being 12 miles between Jamestown and Valley City completed in 1958. All over ND as sections were completed ceremonial ribbons made of braided wheat were cut by dignitaries, marching bands played over the concrete, podiums were erected for speeches, and Ms. North Dakota was present.I-29, Fargo’s other interstate, running entirely north and south through ND’s 217.5 miles, was not completed until the final section from Pembina to the Canadian border in 1977. To give you an idea of how new the Interstate system is in America, this 1977 completion made ND the first state in the union to have completed it’s Interstate system.Of the seven states I-94 reaches through, ND’s section is the longest, stretching all 352.39 miles from the badlands to the flat lands at the base of the Red River Valley. Can you guess all seven states I-94 passes into? Answer: (IN, IL, WI, MI, MN, ND, MT)Sources:“Interstate-Guide: Interstate 94.” Accessed October 16, 2016. http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-094.html. “Interstate-Guide: Interstate 29.” Accessed October 16, 2016. http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-029.html.
Lindenwood Park
Fargo's second oldest park, following Island Park, is Lindenwood. This area was purchased in two parts by City of Fargo from William and Alice Resser to be used as a park showcasing the lovely mature trees along the Red River. The first purchase, a $32,900 parcel, was completed on Sept 29, 1917. Sale was made with the agreement that Resser could farm the land just west of the tree line during the 1918 growing season. The second section, purchased in 1919, was an additional $70,000.The land purchase allowed River Drive to run from city limits south to Riverside Cemetery. It is told that River Drive became nationally known as a splendid scenic byway in the 1920’s and 30’s as Americans fell in love with the automobile. The farmland just west of the park was not built into the homes you see now until the 1950's, as you can see in the aerial photo taken in 1954.Through the years, The Linden Woods, the park’s charming original name, became simply Lindenwood, a place for tourists to camp (thanks to running water in 1921 and the addition of horse and motorbike mounted police in 1922), a lovey picnic and leisure spot for locals (due to benches and picnic areas being added in 1923-24), and home base for a Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) camp (men constructed the main road and toilets and shelters in summer 1934). The park was originally closed each October 15th and reopened in the spring as weather and flooding permitted.In June 1955 a by-pass highway was proposed and a section of Lindenwood Park land was offered to ND DOT for $39,400. ND DOT countered much lower and Fargo Park District settled for $17,833. Construction started later that year. In 1956, President Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act. By 1958, 7.6 acres of the southernmost section of Lindenwood were cut off by I-94’s path, rendering it useless to the park. The aerial photo from 1959 shows the section purchased by Riverside Cemetery for $7,500. Fargo Parks use the acquired funds towards the construction of the Winter Sports Arena, known today as the John E. Carlson Coliseum, on 17th Ave N.1NDSU Archival photographs and Fargo Forum newspaper both show Lindenwood Park as a backdrop for outdoor fashion shoots for department store ads in the 1960’s and 70’s. In 1999, Fargo-Moorhead’s Sertoma Club chapter signed a deal to begin Holiday Lights. Paid entry per vehicle allows park goers to view over 65 lighted displays with all proceeds benefiting local charitable organizations.Sources:Thanks to Mr. Leker, and special gratitude to Mr. Vic Pellerano, of Fargo Parks for sifting through years of Fargo Park District Meeting Minutes held in Fargo Parks Archives. “HOLIDAY LIGHTS – FM Sertoma.” Accessed October 29, 2016. http://www.fmsertoma.com/holiday-lights/. Color photo by author. Aerial photo from NDSU Institute for Regional Studies. Accessed November 19, 2016. http://www.digitalhorizonsonline.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/ndsu-olson/id/508/rec/2. Models posing from NDSU Institute for Regional Studies. Accessed November 19, 2016. http://www.digitalhorizonsonline.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/uw/id/8739/rec/4.
Camping Area and Shelters
One of Lindenwood Park’s earliest features was the camping area. Later, during Roosevelt’s New Deal era, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers added shelters, walking paths, and modern toilet facilities with potable water.The CCC operated under the army’s control. Camp commanders had disciplinary powers and corpsmen were required to address superiors as “sir.” By September 1935 over 500,000 young men had lived in CCC camps, most staying from six months to a year. The work focused on soil conservation and reforestation. The CCC was responsible for over half of the reforestation, public and private, done in the nation’s history! Corpsmen also dug canals and ditches, built over thirty thousand wildlife shelters, stocked rivers and lakes with nearly a billion fish, restored historic battlefields, and cleared beaches and campgrounds.In less than 10 years, the Civilian Conservation Corps built more than 800 parks and planted nearly 3 billion trees nationwide.Although professing a nondiscriminatory policy, the CCC failed to give a fair share of work to blacks, especially in the South where local selection agents held sway. In spite of rigid segregation and hiring quotas, black participation reached 10 percent by 1936, but women were never allowed to join the CCC.In all, nearly 3 million young men participated in the CCC. The army’s experience in managing such large numbers and the paramilitary discipline learned by corpsmen provided unexpected preparation for the massive call-up of civilians during World War II. After the December 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, corpsmen were called up to defend their country. The CCC ended in 1942.Sources:Thanks to Mr. Leker, and special gratitude to Mr. Vic Pellerano, of Fargo Parks for sifting through years of Fargo Park District Meeting Minutes held in Fargo Parks Archives. “Civilian Conservation Corps – Facts & Summary.” HISTORY.com. Accessed November 19, 2016. http://www.history.com/topics/civilian-conservation-corps.
FM Sertoma Holiday Lights at Lindenwood Park
The Fargo-Moorhead Sertoma Chapter began its holiday lights tour in 1998 here in Lindenwood Park. Several other Sertoma Clubs in the area have similar light shows during the holiday season. Many groups enjoy the Sertoma Lights, normally visible from just after Thanksgiving until New Year's Eve for a small fee. Businesses pay an entry fee to set up in one of a growing number of spaces designated each season. All funds raised from vehicle travel through the display are donated locally to F-M charities. Sertoma International is a volunteer civic service organization with 835 Clubs in the United States, Canada and Mexico and a membership of over 27,000 professional men and women. Sertoma stands for the high and noble SERvice TO MAnkind through communication of thoughts, ideas and concepts to accelerate human progress in health, education, freedom and democracy. Fargo's chapter was established in 1957 and seven charter members are still involved in group activites.Sources:“FM Sertoma – Serving the Fargo-Moorhead Area.” Accessed December 5, 2016. http://www.fmsertoma.com/.
Fargo's Walking Bridges
The photo here, from 2009, shows how Sertoma Freedom Bridge used to be effected by flooding of the Red River. While the bridge could be hoisted into the air and placed on stanchions (photo two) to avoid annual flooding, a crane was needed to perform the task, at a cost. The fee in 2009 was $2000 per movement and at the mercy of the availability of a construction crew with a crane. Flash flooding and late flooding made the raising and lowering timeline little more than guesswork. Photo two is from june 2009 and the bridge is still lifted!The bridge you see now, completed in 2012, can be raised and lowered electrically up to 45 feet in the air, assuring its safety from a 500 year flood. The cost of the improvement was $1 million for this bridge and the one at Oak Grove Park, but with daily estimated foot traffic of13,000 people on Fargo-Moorhead's three Red River walking bridges, the other being a floating bridge Island Park, this upgrade has proven to be a good investment. Sources:Fargo, Forum Communications Company 301 8th St S. “Lindenwood Park Unveiling $1 Million Lift Bridge,” May 5, 2014. http://www.wday.com/content/lindenwood-park-unveiling-1-million-lift-bridge. Gr, Forum Communications Company 3 0 ©, Forks Herald, Forum Communications Company 375 2nd Ave N. Gr, Forks, and North Dakota 58203 Call us at780-1100. “Fargo, Moorhead Seek Pedestrian Bridges with Lift,” January 15, 2014. http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/fargo-moorhead-seek-pedestrian-bridges-lift.
The Darlings
The area just ahead is now Ponte's Park but it used to belong to Charles Webb Darling. Born in East Virgil, New York in 1844, Darling would make his way to the west coast in his lifetime. Darling must have been quite the go-getter! After serving in the NY Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War, he married his first wife in 1868. While it appears they headed west together, it wasn’t meant to be. Though no divorce record has been found both Charles and Harriet remarried in the late 1880’s.Darling is listed again and again in Fargo’s City Directories as Treasurer of Fargo Brick and Tile (1881-1883), co-owner of Darling and Angell Real Estate and Loan which he founded in 1878, and owner of prime real estate along the Red River where Lindenwood Park is now located and a home on 8th St S (now a parking lot).In 1882 he partnered with others to begin a horse-drawn street car company that was unfortunately destroyed by fire. In 1885 he married Marcella Rolph. 1888 it was written about Darling and crew, “They are masters of the history and prospects of western real estate, and being far-seeing men they can tell pretty accurately where certain event will occur that in a short time are bound to double or treble the value of property now held at a very low price.”Darling's long-time partner in business, Erasmus Angell, was also from a tiny town in New York. In fact, Lapeer was only 7 miles from Virgil. Though the men were 11 years apart in age, I wonder, did they know one another? Were they shocked to meet in Fargo, or was it planned? Why did the business end?Darling arrived in Fargo near it's beginning and did quite well, but he still moved west, and when he left he had his sights set on California. He sold the Fargo land to Sam Crabbe, who would raise Marguette the famous butter fat producer right here! The Darling's settled into National City, California, just south of San Diego. In 1917, at 75 years old, Charles Darling’s passport application listed his occupation as rancher, census data in 1920 listed him as a fruit farmer, and his wife Marcella’s passport explained that she and Mr. Darling would frequently be crossing into Mexico in order to manage their southern Californian mining company.5 Charles Webb Darling died in 1922. Marcella Rolph Darling died in 1950. Both are both resting peacefully now in San Diego. Darling’s approximately 4000 mile trek from tiny East Virgil, NY to National City, CA is one I’d love to learn more about.Sources:Claxton, Linda. “Charles W Darling (1844 - 1922) - Find A Grave Memorial,” November 11, 2012. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Darling&GSfn=Charles+&GSmn=W&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=6&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=100539679&df=all&. com.U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. “Early Streetcars | Fargo History.” Accessed October 31, 2016. https://library.ndsu.edu/fargo-history/?q=content/early-streetcars. Fargo, the Gateway of the Northeast. H.S. Reed & Company, 1888. https://books.google.com/books/about/Fargo_the_Gateway_of_the_Northeast.html?id=OCYaAAAAYAAJ. Darling passport photos. Ancestry.com.U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925; Roll #: 395; Volume #: Roll 0395 - Certificates: 63101-63400, 22 Aug 1917-24 Aug 1917. Darling tombstone photo. Find A Grave. Accessed November 19, 2016. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Darling&GSfn=char&GSmn=W&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=100539679&df=all&.
