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7/23/2011: On today’s date in 1942, the Fargo Forum newspaper proudly announced that North Dakota was tied with South Dakota, Arkansas, and Utah for the lowest death rate in the nation.

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.

7/30/2011: 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.

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

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.

8/6/2011: 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.

8/13/2011: In 1902, this week’s edition of the Jamestown Alert reported “the history of Frank and Jesse James has been revived in Minot.”

8/18/2011: After Agnes Rex ventured to St. Louis in 1919 for the first meeting of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women, she was excited to return to North Dakota and start organizing local clubs.

8/26/2011: When Max Eastman, the famous pacifist and socialist, was invited to speak in Fargo, nobody knew how much his appearance would impact the community, and Eastman himself. I

9/6/2011: United States President Rutherford B. Hayes visited Red River Valley bonanza farms near Casselton on this date in 1887. The President spent most of his time on the Dalrymple wheat farm, admiring the size and efficiency of the highly mechanized operation run by Oliver Dalrymple.