Hill, who later built the Great Northern Railway, sent Capt. Alexander
Griggs to explore the Red River. By the fall of 1870 Griggs had built
up a good freighting business, using flatboats to carry his cargoes.
George Winship, later publisher of the Grand Forks _Herald_, also went
into the flatboat freight business and a friendly rivalry developed
between the two commanders and their crews.
On one occasion Winship loaded two flatboats with merchandise at
McCauleyville, scheduled for Pembina. At the same time Captain Griggs
was loading a fleet of flatboats destined for Fort Garry (Winnipeg).
Winship set out a half day before Griggs finished loading, but Griggs'
crew boasted they could overtake the rival fleet. At the Goose Rapids
Winship was forced by low water and the rocky channel to reload his
entire cargo to a "lighter," a two-day task. Toward evening of the
second day shouts up the river announced Griggs' arrival at the head
of the rapids. Confident of keeping their lead, Winship and his crew
tied up for the night. Before morning a violent storm washed overboard
several kegs of beer which were part of their cargo. All were retrieved
but one, which floated unnoticed downstream, to be salvaged by the
Griggs crew. As a result of the ensuing party most of Griggs' men
were incapacitated, and he was forced to tie up his fleet at Grandes
Fourches to await recovery.
Winship reached Pembina safely, but before Griggs could proceed the
river froze, and he was forced to unload his cargo and store it in
improvised sheds. His crew, with no alternative but to spend the winter
here, were the first white people known to have domiciled on the site
of Grand Forks.
Captain Griggs built a squatter cabin at the mouth of the Red Lake
River, and after a trip to St. Paul in 1871 built the first frame house
in the settlement on the bank of the Red River, at the foot of what is
now Kittson Avenue, and brought his family to the new community.
In its early years Grand Forks was a typical river town, developing
into an important station for the heavy river and oxcart traffic on
the St. Paul-Fort Garry trail. Dwellings began to dot the prairie
beside the river, log huts and crude frame structures built from the
product of Captain Griggs' sawmill. A post office was established in
1871, and mail arrived once or twice a week by dog team. In the same
year a telegraph station was established, on the first line in the
State, running between Fort Abercrombie and Winnipeg. It was about this
time that the English pronunciation of the community's name came into
general use.
In the winter of 1872 there was much unemployment and saloons were
filled with idle men. During this winter "Catfish Joe," a half-witted
Frenchman, murdered a local character known as Old Man Stevens who,
while intoxicated, called him uncomplimentary names. The saloon crowd
decided on a lynching, and all through the night plans were discussed,
but with so many rounds of drinks that action was impossible. Catfish
Joe was tried for murder at Yankton, spent two years in prison,
and returned to terrify Grand Forks by strutting about the streets
decorated with a bowie knife and a Winchester. One courageous townsman,
Bert Haney, seized the gun and struck Joe a terrific blow on the head,
breaking the rifle barrel from the stock, but with no damage to Joe's
head. Catfish Joe later went to Montana where he murdered his partner
for refusing to get up in the night and prepare breakfast.
By the spring of 1872 Captain Griggs' sawmill was doing a flourishing
business, turning out lumber for building and repairing river boats
and barges. Logs were cut and floated down the river to Winnipeg.
When Frank Viets opened the first flour mill in the Red River Valley
at Grand Forks in 1877, he added another industry to the growing
settlement. The Hudson's Bay Company operated a store, managed by
Viets, who purchased it when the company moved to Winnipeg in 1877.
Since five families in the city had children of school age in 1873, it
became necessary to establish a school. As some of the families lived
on North Third Street and others in the Lincoln Park area, they could
not agree on a suitable location, and each faction held a school of its
own. Claim shanties served as school buildings, and a drayman, one of
Captain Griggs' hired men, taught the north end school.
There was no dentist in the community in the early days of Grand Forks.
Alex Walstrom, a blacksmith, used a pair of homemade tongs about two
feet long to pull aching teeth.
On October 26, 1875, Captain Griggs filed a plat of the original town
site of Grand Forks, covering 90 acres of his claim. The following
spring Viets filed the plat of his first addition. In 1879 the village
of Grand Forks was organized and three years later was incorporated as
a city.
Although life at the little river post lacked many refinements, the
social aspect was not entirely neglected. Weddings were carried out
with pomp and ceremony, and anniversaries appropriately celebrated. A
popular social custom, New Year calling, was introduced on January 1,
1876. Groups of men rode together in sleighs to call on their friends,
and then drove to the Hudson's Bay Company store, purchased flour,
sugar, tea, and other necessities, which they took to the homes of the
destitute.
Until 1879 traffic moved by steamboat or stage, but the coming of the
Great Northern Railway in that year brought the rapid decline of both
these early modes of transportation. Their end was hastened by the
extension of the Northern Pacific Railway from Crookston, Minn., to
Grand Forks two years later.
George Walsh founded the _Plaindealer_, the first newspaper northwest
of Fargo, in 1874, and published it without competition for five years
until George Winship started the _Herald_. There began a continuous
quarrel between the two editors which was at times decidedly heated,
although when the plant of the _Plaindealer_ burned in 1884 Winship
shared his equipment with Walsh. While acknowledging the courtesy,
the _Plaindealer_ continued to attack the editorial policies of its
benefactor. Winship eventually purchased his rival's paper and merged
it with the _Herald_, which since 1881 has been published as a daily.
The late J. D. Bacon, when publisher of the _Herald_, established
the Lilac Hedge Farm northwest of Grand Forks to demonstrate the
practicability of diversified agriculture and the value of using
purebred stock.
Colonel Viets' mill on South Third Street was one of the first
industries established in the city, and was the only flour mill until
1882, when John McDonald founded a mill at the present corner of Fifth
Street and Kittson Avenue. This was operated later by the Diamond
Milling Company and then sold to the Russell-Miller Milling Company.
Cream of Wheat was first processed in Grand Forks and was manufactured
locally for a number of years about the turn of the century, before the
manufacturer moved to Minneapolis.
In Grand Forks politics and the weather were of great importance.
Elections were always exciting. When D. M. Holmes ran for mayor in
1886 his friend James J. Hill ordered all Great Northern trains of
the north, south, and west lines to run into Grand Forks so that the
train crews could vote for Holmes. Against such odds Holmes' opponent
withdrew.
A tornado that struck Grand Forks in June 1887 killed two women and
wrecked many buildings. Ten years later the city experienced one
of the worst floods in its history. The Red River made an all-time
record by flowing four miles an hour. Houses along the river flats
were floating or completely submerged. The piers of the west approach
of the Minnesota Avenue bridge were swept by ice, and the Northern
Pacific tracks were under water. When water filled the basement of the
_Herald_ building, the staff was forced to resort to hand composition
to continue publication. Many families lived in second stories, and on
nearby farms platforms were built on the roofs of barns and fenced in
for the livestock, which was fed from boats.
In 1890 a brick plant was established in Grand Forks, and another in
1900. Other industries which sprang up during this period were bottling
works, breweries, and foundries. Besides the Grand Forks _Herald_,
two weeklies were established, the _Red River Valley Citizen_ and the
_Normanden_, the latter in the Norwegian language.
In 1919 a group of farmers and business men from Grand Forks and the
surrounding territory opened the Northern Packing Company, designed
to handle 500 hogs and 150 cattle and sheep daily, with a plant one
and one-half miles north of the city (_see Tour 1_). The State Mill
and Elevator began operation in 1922 (_see Tour 1_). A candy company
that uses locally produced beet sugar has an annual output of about
1,000,000 pounds. A large potato warehouse with laboratory and
experimental department was constructed in 1935 at the corner of North
Third Street and Lewis Boulevard.
The population of Grand Forks has increased from 200 in 1873 to 17,112
in 1930, and is composed of many nationalities, although more than 75
percent of the native whites are of Norwegian or Canadian descent. A
small section of the city bounded by Sixth and Eighth Avenues North and
Twentieth and Twenty-third Streets North is a Scandinavian community
designated locally as "Little Norway." Here Norwegian is spoken almost
exclusively by the older people, although the children have acquired
American speech and habits. Norwegian Independence Day, _Syttende Mai_
(May 17), is celebrated by the residents of this district and their
homes are then decorated with Norwegian flags. Much political activity
of an earlier period centered about this little community, since it
generally voted as a bloc. Politicians of that day believed that the
candidate who was most liberal with ale would receive the community's
vote, and on the eve of election torchlight parades marched through the
streets of this district and candidates for office generously dispensed
both oratory and beer.
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. FEDERAL BUILDING, 1st. Ave. N. at N. 4th St., houses the post
office, United States courtroom, a branch of the United States
Immigration Service, and the Federal Reemployment office. The
superstructure is of white Bedford stone and pressed brick, with a base
of solid granite. It has a 12-foot cornice of stone with carved and
blocked ornaments. The lobby has marble floors and high wainscoting
of marble, contrasting shades being used for borders. Fixtures are of
quarter-sawed oak.
2. CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, 1st and 2nd Aves. N. between 4th and 5th Sts.,
has an auditorium unit constructed entirely without windows. It was
the first public building in North Dakota to utilize indirect lighting
throughout. It was erected in 1936-37 with WPA assistance at a cost of
$275,000, and includes a pipe organ, the gift of the Grand Forks Music
Association.
3. SORLIE MEMORIAL BRIDGE across the Red River connects Grand Forks, N.
Dak., and East Grand Forks, Minn., on US 2. It is dedicated to the late
A. G. Sorlie, former Governor of the State, and was built in 1929.
4. RADIO STATION KFJM (_open daily 2:30-5 p.m._), top floor of the
First National Bank Bldg., cor. DeMers Ave. and N. 4th St., is one of
the few State-owned university radio stations in the United States. It
is leased to a local company. A studio is maintained at the university.
5. TRIANGLE APARTMENTS, 5th and Chestnut Sts. and 5th Ave. S., mark
the site of two of the most important buildings in early Grand Forks
history. The city's first school building stood across the street
from this triangle, on the courthouse site. In 1883 the old building
was moved into the triangle and converted into the Park Hotel. The
Arlington House, a hotel built by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1873, was
also moved to this lot and in 1906 Col. Andrew Knutson purchased both
buildings and operated them as the Arlington-Park Hotel. This hotel was
torn down in recent years and the lumber used in the construction of
the apartment building that now occupies the site.
6. GRAND FORKS COUNTY COURTHOUSE, 4th and 5th Sts. S. between Kittson
and Bruce Aves., was erected in 1913 and designed by Buechner and Orth
of St. Paul. It is a three-story Indiana limestone building of modified
Classic design, with a figure of Justice surmounting its dome. The
halls are finished in white marble with mural decorations. Embellishing
the upper part of the rotunda are four painted lunettes showing typical
North Dakota scenes.
7. SOLDIER'S MONUMENT, 6th St. S. and Belmont Rd., was donated by
George B. Winship, early newspaper publisher, as a memorial to 168
local Civil War veterans, whose names are engraved on a bronze tablet.
Mounted on a square base of Vermont granite, the monument represents a
Union soldier "at rest."
8. CENTRAL PARK (_picnicking not allowed_), Red River bank, S. end of
3rd St., is a beauty spot and playground. The flower gardens, a mass of
brilliant bloom, are lighted at night. At the bandstand in the center
of the park concerts are presented, usually each week, during the
summer months. In front of the bandstand are millstones from the first
flour mill in the Red River Valley, which was built on the site of the
city waterworks plant in 1877. An outdoor skating rink is lighted for
winter skating. The warming house is on the site of the first building
erected within the present boundaries of the city. Across the drive
from the ball diamond are the toboggan slides, partially hidden from
view by evergreen trees and shrubs.
9. UNIVERSITY PARK (_playground equipment and supervised play_),
University Ave. bet. 24th and 25th Sts., has a children's library at
the clubhouse, and children's band concerts (_weekly, June-July_) are
given by the university band.
10. LINCOLN PARK (_municipal golf links, tennis courts, ski slide,
picnic and play equipment_), Belmont Rd. at S. edge of city, contains
the old Red River Oxcart Trail (_see Tour 1_) which crossed the little
hill on which the clubhouse stands. Later, when the settlement became
a stage station on the St. Paul-Fort Garry Trail, the Stewart House
was built here and housed Grand Forks' first post office. This old log
building is now the kitchen of the clubhouse.
11. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA is at the W. end of University Ave. 2 m.
from the principal business section of Grand Forks. (_University bus at
3rd St. and DeMers Ave., fare 10c._)
The campus facing the avenue is bordered by a low hedge, and the two
main entrances are marked by large brick pylons. Tree-shaded roads
wind past the buildings and along the banks of English Coulee. In the
spring and summer the wide expanses of green lawn are broken by plots
of flowers and clumps of lilacs, spires, and flowering almond. All of
the buildings erected since 1910 are in modern collegiate Gothic style,
a modification of true English Gothic architecture adapted especially
for educational institutions.
The University of North Dakota was established by the Territorial
Legislature before North Dakota became a State. The cornerstone for
"Old Main" was laid October 12, 1883, on the prairie beside the banks
of the winding English Coulee, and September 8, 1884, the university
opened classes with 79 students and a staff of 4 instructors.
Enrollment now numbers almost 3,000 students and the school has more
than 130 instructors.
Selection of a site two miles from the city was opposed by many of the
townspeople who thought the university should be located at the south
end of Third Street, on the present site of Central Park. During the
tornado of 1887 the roof of Old Main, then the only building on the
campus, was blown almost to the south end of Third Street. Agitation
was begun to bring the remainder of the building to join the roof,
but State officials refused to consider the plan, chiefly because the
property originally used was school land. Old Main was remodeled and a
women's dormitory erected near it. That settled the controversy.
For students who were unable to live on the campus, transportation
was a troublesome problem. Only a country road of sticky Red River
Valley gumbo connected the campus with the city, and, except for the
fortunate few who caught rides on horse-drawn vehicles, city students
walked to classes. During severe weather it was often necessary to flag
a freight or passenger train of the Great Northern to make the trip
to town. About 1900 a trolley line was established to the university,
and despite its erratic service it greatly facilitated attendance of
nonresident students.
Although given an endowment of 86,080 acres of public lands in 1889
when it became the University of North Dakota, there were many years
when the school derived no revenue from this source, but had to depend
entirely upon legislative appropriation. In 1895 Governor Allin vetoed
most of the appropriation, leaving money for the janitor's salary but
none for the faculty. The institution was kept open through private
contributions, and President Webster Merrifield and other professors
served without salary during a trying two-year period. Despite
financial difficulties, attendance at the university in its first 15
years increased more than 40 percent and in 1898 President Merrifield
reported to the legislature that the facilities of the institution were
inadequate. Continued expansion added law, premedical, and commerce
schools, and mechanical, electrical, and mining engineering departments
at the university by the end of the 1901 term.
During the first six years of university history there were only two
buildings on the campus. The main building, later known as Merrifield
Hall, contained classrooms, book store, post office, and men's
dormitory. The other building, later named Davis Hall for Hannah E.
Davis, one of its early matrons, housed the girls' dormitory, and, in
the basement, the university dining hall. Alumni of those days relate
that the dining hall was a very popular place. When meals were ready
to be served a napkin was hung out the basement window, and the first
student in the main building who spied the sign, regardless of whether
he happened to be in a class or not, yelled, "Rag's out!" The shout
was taken up and a stampede to the dining room followed. This custom
prevailed for several years. One day President Merrifield was showing
some of his Eastern friends through the institution when suddenly
"Rag's out" reverberated through the halls. The visitors wondered if
there was a riot, and the mortified president realized for the first
time how the dinner call sounded to outsiders. He suppressed it with
difficulty, after many student debates on the sacredness of college
traditions.
With the advent of football teams, "Odz, odz, dzi," an imitation of
a Sioux war cry, became the college yell, and has continued to the
present.
When a delegation from the first North Dakota legislature visited
the campus on a tour of inspection in 1889, residents of the girls'
dormitory held a tea in their honor. In order to improve upon the
barrenness of the sparsely furnished parlor, pieces were borrowed from
the girls' rooms and from friends. The expedient was more successful
than the girls had anticipated, for the legislators considered the
furnishings more than adequate and thereupon decreased the amount
allowed in the budget for dormitory equipment.
Although the University of North Dakota has been in existence only 55
years (1938), it has had its share of distinguished alumni, among whom
is Maxwell Anderson (class of 1911), playwright, author of _What Price
Glory_, _Mary of Scotland_, _Winterset_, and other dramas. In 1933 his
play _Both Your Houses_ was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson, explorer, attended the university from 1899 to
1902, and left at the request of the faculty. His escapades, though
doubtless improved upon with the years, are quite typical of him. It is
said he attended classes as seldom as possible, yet always received the
highest grades. The story goes that he went to his calculus class only
on the first day of the term, then returned for the final examination,
which the professor allowed him to write, with gloomy prophecies of his
ruin. Stefansson's mark was 98. The professor could not help remarking
that he had done well considering that he had attended only one class.
"And," retorted Stefansson, "if I hadn't come here the first day I'd
have got one hundred."
The Arctic explorer has been credited with pranks such as releasing a
small pig on the speaker's platform at convocation, and rolling a keg
of beer across the campus to win a bet when North Dakota was a very dry
State. There was then no trolley from Grand Forks to the campus, and
President Merrifield was driven the two miles to and from town in his
private carriage. One day Stefansson saw the carriage parked downtown.
The driver was old in service, and when Stefansson stepped into the
carriage and said "Home, Peter" in a good imitation of the president's
voice, Peter suspected nothing. Stefansson rode in comfort to the
campus, while President Merrifield, it is said, walked. Expelled in
1902, Stefansson was called back to his Alma Mater in 1930 to have the
LL. D. degree conferred on him in recognition of his contributions to
science.
The east campus road passes the LAW BUILDING, WOODWORTH HALL, CHEMISTRY
BUILDING, and BABCOCK HALL. In Woodworth, the school of education, is
the campus broadcasting studio. The University of North Dakota was
the second university in the United States to offer courses in radio
administration, and engineering students use the KFJM transmitter,
adjacent to the campus, for practical class work in technical radio
instruction. Just S. of the Chemistry Building are the university
tennis courts, and a nine-hole golf course is E. of MEMORIAL STADIUM
(L) erected in 1927. The university athletic department is a member
of the North Central Conference and books games with schools from
coast to coast. The UNIVERSITY MUSEUM on the top floor of Babcock Hall
(_open 9-5 daily_) contains a large collection of Indian artifacts and
geological and historical items.
The road curves back of Babcock and the COMMONS past CAMP DEPRESSION
(L), established in 1933, where railroad cabooses are fitted up for
enterprising students to provide cooperative accommodations at a
minimum cost. Left of Camp Depression is the shiny arched steel WINTER
SPORTS BUILDING. Around the curve is the ARMORY (L) where athletic and
social events and weekly convocations are held. The road to the R.
passes BUDGE HALL (R), men's dormitory, built in 1889; OLD MERRIFIELD
HALL (L), generally known as "Old Main," the first building on the
campus and now occupied by administrative offices, post office, book
store, and offices of the extension division; NEW MERRIFIELD HALL (L),
the liberal arts college building, completed in 1929; SCIENCE HALL (R),
housing the medical school and State Public Health Laboratories; and
the LIBRARY (L), containing 77,000 catalogued books and periodicals and
about 17,500 uncatalogued Government documents.
Curving L., the road passes the PRESIDENT'S HOUSE (R), a spacious
Georgian Colonial brick residence. Next is MACNIE HALL, a cooperative
men's residence hall, named for John Macnie, for 20 years a member of
the faculty, and composer of the university _Alma Mater_. Vine-covered
CHANDLER HALL (R), named for Elwin Chandler, dean emeritus of the
school of engineering, is headquarters during Engineers' Day held the
last Friday in April each year. DAVIS HALL (R), women's dormitory, is
the second oldest building on the campus, erected in 1887. It houses
the home economics department.
ENGLISH COULEE (R), so-called because an Englishman is said to have
drowned in it, borders the campus on the W. Between Davis Hall and the
WOMEN'S GYMNASIUM the stream curves, creating the impression that the
opposite bank is a wooded island. This far bank is the stage of the
BANKSIDE THEATER, and the concave bank facing it is used to seat the
audience. The theater is the scene of an Interfraternity Sing held the
last week in May.