When the North Dakota Agricultural College opened, the need for a quality academic library became apparent. In 1904, NDAC President John Worst wrote to philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and asked if he would build a library on the campus. Carnegie donated $17,400. Worst raised another $4,500 and the library was underway.
On this date in 1910, there was a great deal of excitement in Fargo. While there was enthusiasm over the laying of the cornerstone for the new library, most of the excitement was reserved for the main speaker. Teddy Roosevelt was returning to North Dakota for the event. Thousands of people descended on Fargo to hear the former president, who had fallen in love with the state. The newspapers noted that many came by automobile, with as many as 500 out-of-town cars arriving in the city.
Roosevelt’s speech focused on the common man. He said, “One of the most important assets of the nation is the education of its young men and women.” He expressed his great pleasure that his name would always be associated with the college. He said it was not scholarship alone that was good unless it is productive and adds to the sum of the nation’s achievements. He added that too many people attending schools were overly sensitive about their rights, but not sensitive about their duties to society and the country.
Roosevelt noted that he received what he called his “post graduate course” in North Dakota and found it difficult to express what he owed to the state for which he felt such deep affection. In his speech he made his famous comment that he never would have become president if it hadn’t been for his experience in North Dakota. “You people of North Dakota are peculiarly responsible for me. I am glad to know that you do not feel bad about it. If it had not been for what I learned during those years that I spent here in North Dakota, I never in the world would have been president of the United States. So now I feel a keen gratitude toward North Dakota and it is especially pleasing to me to feel that I am back home again.”
Dakota Datebook by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- Fargo Forum and Daily Republican. “Thirty Thousand N. Dakotans Greet Teddy With Wild Enthusiasm.” Fargo ND. 9/5/1910. Page 1.
- NDSU Archives. “North Dakota Agricultural College.” https://library.ndsu.edu/fargo-history/indexe641.html?q=content/north-dakota-agricultural-college-ndsu Accessed 7/28/2024.
- NDSU Archives. “Library.” https://library.ndsu.edu/fargo-history/index3714.html?q=content/library Accessed 7/28/2024.
