Trista Raezer-Stursa

When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, suspicion fell on German Americans. Anti-German sentiment led to the prohibition of teaching German in schools, the closure of many German-language newspapers, and persecution for speaking German in public or on the phone.

Frank O’Brien was born in 1892 in Fargo. At 18, he began working at the Fargo Mercantile Company, a wholesale grocer. Like many young men of his time, Frank was drafted after the United States declared war on Germany in 1917. He was among the first draftees from Fargo and was inducted in September 1917. After arriving at Camp Dodge, Iowa, Frank wrote a letter to his former colleagues at the Fargo Mercantile Company, describing his training as a member of an infantry supply company.

On this date in 1989, The Bismarck Tribune reported that Dick Gerlach of Bismarck was taking advantage of the sudden popularity of potpourri. The 80-year-old Mr. Gerlach harvested the petals from his 87 rose bushes to make potpourri, which he sold at the downtown Bismarck giftshop The Plum Tree.

On a cold December day in 1990, the Bertsch family of Buchanan went to a neighbor’s farm to help clean turkeys. While the parents were busy working, the three Bertsch siblings, Waylon, Jarrett, and Andrea, played on the banks of the Pipestem River. Five-year-old Andrea walked about 10 feet onto the river ice and fell through. Quick thinking ten-year-old Waylon sent his brother Jarrett to tell their parents as he tried to help his sister.

On this date in 1913, back when women still gave birth at home and few owned cars, the front-page news that a woman gave birth in a car must have been quite shocking.

On this date in 1917, the North Dakota attorney general’s office made a shocking announcement. An arrest warrant had been issued for the president of the Soo Line Railroad, Edmund Pennington, for bringing liquor into the state. The assistant attorney general said immense quantities of liquor had been shipped to illegal clubs, blind pigs, and bawdy houses.

Fargo and Moorhead were first settled in 1871, and by 1874, the area’s first newspaper debuted: the Fargo Weekly Express. Over the following decades a plethora of newspapers went in and out of publication.

By the turn the 20th century, recognizing the valuable social work women offered, civic groups and municipalities began considering them as police officers. Initially, they worked with delinquent women and to enhance community morality.

On this date in 1918 The Fargo Forum was full of articles about the progress of World War I. Germany was advancing through Russia, another draft was possible, and folks in North Dakota and elsewhere were busy raising funds for the war effort. Tucked away on page eight of the paper was the news that 1,500 former residents of North Dakota held a picnic near Los Angeles.

Anton Covlin and Alec Panasuk were neighboring farmers in Dogden, North Dakota. In September 1917 the two men got into a dispute over horses. Witnesses from each family told different stories, but could agree on one thing, Alec Panasuk died.