North Dakota: A Guide to the Northern Prairie StateFederal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of North Dakota
History
North Dakota: A Guide to the Northern Prairie State
Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of North Dakota
North Dakota; North Dakota -- Guidebooks
Fargo's public school system consists of 11 elementary schools, 3
junior high schools, and a senior high school; privately owned are
3 Catholic schools, a Lutheran school, 3 business colleges, 2 music
conservatories, and 5 trade schools. The first Protestant church
services in the southern Red River Valley in North Dakota were held in
Fargo, and now more than 30 denominations have churches in the city.
St. Mary's Cathedral is the seat of the diocese of the Roman Catholic
Church for the eastern half of North Dakota, and Fargo is likewise the
seat of the North Dakota diocese of the Episcopal Church.
The city's best-known musical group, the Amphion Male Chorus, composed
of Fargo and Moorhead, Minn., singers, has toured nearby cities and
eastern United States, giving concerts in New York and Philadelphia.
Community singing is popular in Fargo, and during the summer months
Island Park is the scene of outdoor concerts and singing contests. In
June each year the music-minded of the Red River Valley gather in the
city for the Valleyland Music Festival.
The agricultural college, always prominent in the cultural life of the
city, has become even more important in late years with the increased
number of college lyceum programs and the growth of the community
theater movement. The Little Country Theater, the outstanding players'
group in the State, has become a virtual authority on community theater
organization and has received favorable notice nationally.
The city is named for William G. Fargo, a director of the Northern
Pacific Railway and founder of the Wells-Fargo Express Company, and
its early history is closely linked with that of the railroad. In 1871
the announcement that a railroad would be built "from Lake Superior to
the Pacific Ocean" aroused much speculation as to where it would cross
the Red River, and the untouched land along the river suddenly became
populated. Three settlers, Jacob Lowell, Jr., Henry S. Back, and Andrew
McHench, formed a triumvirate and patrolled the Red from the mouth of
the Wild Rice to the Elm River from April to June 29 in an effort to
discover "the first indications of the railroad crossing."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account