Leewana Thomas

8/6/2011: There was some scandalous gossip circulating in the Fargo area on this date in 1909. It concerned Chris Manos and Lavina Wright. Their crime was called “adultery,” but it’s not what you’d expect.

8/5/2011: On today’s date in 1958, Douglas Armond Nelson staged a hold-up at the Wahpeton National Bank, and those who witnessed the event will never forget how it unfolded – not because of any excitement or gunplay, but rather because poor Douglas didn’t have much experience at bank robbing.

8/4/2011: Bordering Mercer County on the north and east are Lake Sakakawea and the Missouri River. The county contains over sixty miles of the Lewis and Clark Trail; including the location where the explorers met Sakakawea herself. I

8/3/2011: Johan or “John” Aasen was born to a Norwegian family of giants. Or at least that was what he told circus spectators. He also claimed he weighed twenty-one pounds at birth; whether or not that’s possible I’ll leave up to your imagination. What we know for sure is that on this date in 1938, many were mourning the loss of a huge theatrical sensation. And North Dakotans felt a special link to Johan Aasen, or as he used to be called, the “New Rockford Giant” of Eddy County.

8/2/2011: When automobiles became widespread in the Great Plains, it was nothing short of a revolution.

8/1/2011: On this date in 1929, the “roll of drums” and “tramp of feet resounded again at Fort Buford.” The important historical site west of Williston was being dedicated as a State Park.

7/31/2011: If you tuned in yesterday, you know we left off when much of Fargo’s historic downtown was well hidden behind what were called “modernizations.” The only problem with these “modernizations” of the 1960s and ’70s was that they made downtown a whole lot uglier.

7/30/2011: This week in 1965, a Fargo Forum headline read “Consultants Stress Fargo’s Need to Improve Downtown ‘Image.’” In the minds of most business owners and consultants, downtown Fargo just looked too old to be competitive. This seems strange today, since Fargoans brag about their historic downtown.

7/29/2011: Every community has a few sad stories to haunt its past. In North Dakota we like to think our history leans toward the lighter side of things, but there are always a few dark events to offset the balance.

7/27/2011: Around this date in 1965, archeologists in near Menoken and Fort Yates were carefully sifting through the North Dakota dirt. The State Historical Society, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Interior Department’s National Park Service were cooperating to excavate two ancient Indian villages before the sites were destroyed by the rising water of new reservoirs.