Travelers to Fargo ninety years ago were about to lose an amenity they may have taken for granted: the tourist park. Citing costs, city officials chose to end support for the park. The Bismarck Tribune quoted the park board as saying, “Tourists these days are too finicky.”
With the Great Depression ongoing, blaming tourists for being too particular about accommodations may have been a way for officials to avoid addressing broader economic challenges facing the city.
Fargo’s Lindenwood Park had served as a tourist park for 18 years, offering space for travelers to camp. For the past eight years, it had also featured cabins. But the park board was unwilling to take on the added expense of providing “shower baths and other conveniences now being demanded by tourists in the park cabins.”
The park was popular, drawing over 14,000 visitors in five years, and even turning away thousands more. Tourists were increasingly asking for modern comforts in the cabins.
The park attracted strong numbers for a city of about 30,000 residents. Between 1931 and 1935, it saw between 800 and 1,100 cars annually, with 2,500 to 3,500 people visiting each year. There’s no clear indication whether the park operated at a surplus or deficit.
Interestingly, many wealthy people, including those with chauffeurs and other servants used the park. With fees of $1.50 per night for cabins and 50 cents for camping, and many years where the park was free, it was a great alternative to hotels. In some ways, it was a precursor to the motels that would emerge in the 1950s.
In 1934, the park recorded license plates from 38 states, six Canadian provinces, and two other foreign countries.
After the city exited the park, the National Park Service proposed using Civilian Conservation Corps labor to convert the area into a picnic park. The CCC had already been using the space for their own needs.
Today, North Dakota communities like Watford City and Valley City still maintain tourist parks with RV and camping amenities. The tourist park of the 1930s represents a time when car travel was beginning to replace the railroad, and air travel was still out of reach for most. Lindenwood Park continues to serve Fargo. And its past reminds us of a simpler era in American travel.
Dakota Datebook by Daniel Sauerwein
Sources:
- The Bismarck tribune. (Bismarck, ND), Sep. 5 1935. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85042243/1935-09-05/ed-1/.
- Fargo Forum and Fargo Daily Tribune. (Fargo, ND), Sep. 4, 1935.
- “Lindenwood Park | Fargo Parks.” 2024. Fargoparks.com. 2024. https://www.fargoparks.com/parks-and-facilities/lindenwood-park.
