Trista Raezer-Stursa

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.

On this date in 1917, former Attorney General of North Dakota, Henry J. Linde, died. He had suffered a stroke three months earlier, after many years of illness. He was only 37 years old.

After World War I, people across the country waited anxiously for the soldiers to make the long trip home. Towns from coast to coast jumped into action to prepare parades and events for the returning heroes.

On this date in 1995, the Bismack Tribune reported on Bro Halff’s 1993 trip to North Dakota. After spending only three days in Bismarck, he enjoy the city so much that he stayed for three weeks. He came back the summer of 1994 bought a house before returning to San Diego for the fall. By 1995, he was living half the year in North Dakota, and half in California.

Friendship with a lawyer from Bismarck led to famed actor Jessica Lange receiving an Oscar nomination in 1985. While she did not win, Lange went on to testify before Congress about the plight of farmers. How did a Bismarck lawyer inspire such a chain of events?

W. H. Horton, owner of the Horton Motor Co., sold Cadillacs at his dealerships in Devils Lake and Fargo, distributing the cars all across the state and into eastern Montana. He was such a believer in the superiority of Cadillacs that he made an unusual offer in the spring of 1913. Horton challenged any owner or dealer of six-cylinder cars to race him from Fargo to Minot and back, with the winner getting $100. Horton would drive a four-cylinder stock Cadillac.

On this date in 2000, sculptor Tom Neary installed a 14-foot-tall stainless steel sign at the intersection of highways 83 and 200 in Washburn. The sign, which weighs almost a ton, reads “Historic Washburn” above a scene of Lewis, Clark, and Sakakawea. The giant sign was commissioned by the Washburn Civic Club and gave Tom Neary a chance to put his mark on the town he lived in and loved.