7/6/2008:
“To think—a hot day, some real water—and a 10-year-old boy.” This statement, made in 1916, seems nostalgic and philosophic, today. Skinny-dipping was the next step.
On this day, however, Fargo boys were a little more wary of this pastime.
They were warned against it by reports of a group of boys who were caught swimming “immodestly” in a slough outside of town. They were taken to the city hall, where Chief of Police Troyer chastised them, saying that public nude bathing wasn’t acceptable even for “youngsters of 8, 9 or 10.”
The chief told them, “Down at the fashionable resorts, they stand for a whole lot of things from grown up folks. They let them parade the beaches with the gaudiest and most flimsy of bathing suits—but here in Fargo—boys, just don’t do it.”
It was probably one of the few moments in which the officer scared their pants on.
By Sarah Walker
Sources:
Fargo Forum and Daily Republican Wednesday evening, July 5, 1916 p. 3