Fargo is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County. In 2008, its population was estimated at 99,200, and it had an estimated metropolitan population of 195,685. Fargo, along with its twin city of Moorhead, Minnesota, as well as adjacent West Fargo, North Dakota and Dilworth, Minnesota, form the center of the Fargo-Moorhead, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area .
The city of Fargo is the crossroads and economic center of a large portion of eastern North Dakota and a portion of northwestern Minnesota. Fargo is a retail, manufacturing, healthcare, and educational hub for the region. Fargo is home to North Dakota State University. The local newspaper is The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead . The city motto is "Gateway to the West". Fargo was founded in 1871.
History
Early history
The area that is present-day Fargo was an early stopping point for steamboats floating down the Red River during the 1870s and 1880s. The city of Fargo was originally named "Centralia," but was later renamed to "Fargo" in honor of Northern Pacific Railway director and Wells Fargo Express Company founder William Fargo. Fargo was founded in 1871. The area started to flourish after the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad and the city became known as the "Gateway to the West".
During the 1880s, Fargo became the "divorce capital" of the Midwest due to very lenient divorce laws.
A major fire struck the city on June 7 , 1893 when the proprietor of a grocery store accidentally started the blaze as she emptied ashes behind her store on a windy day. The fire destroyed 31 blocks of downtown Fargo. However, Fargo was quickly rebuilt with new buildings made of brick, new streets, and a water system. Over 246 new buildings were built within one year. The North Dakota State Agricultural College was founded in 1890 as North Dakota's land-grant university, becoming first accredited by the North Central Association in 1915. In 1960, NDAC became known as North Dakota State University.
The 20th century
Early in the century, the automobile industry flourished, and in 1905, Fargo was home to the Pence Automobile Company .
Fargo-Moorhead boomed after World War II and the city grew rapidly despite being hit by a violent tornado in 1957. The tornado destroyed a large portion of the north end of the city. Dr. Ted Fujita, famous for his Fujita tornado scale, analyzed pictures of the Fargo tornado, which helped him develop his ideas for "wall cloud" and "tail cloud." These were the first major scientific descriptive terms associated with tornadoes. The coming of the two interstates (I-29 and I-94) revolutionized travel in the region and pushed growth of Fargo to the south and west of the city limits. In 1972, the West Acres Shopping Center, currently the largest shopping mall in North Dakota, was constructed near the intersection of the two Interstates. This mall would become the catalyst for retail growth in the area. It would also spell the beginning of a time of decline for the downtown area of Fargo.
Recent history
In recent years, Fargo has seen relatively strong growth both in population and economic activity. Several businesses now have major operations in the community including Microsoft, Navteq and PRACS Institute. The city's major retail districts on the southwest side have seen rapid expansion as has the downtown area due, at least in part, to investments made by the city and private developers in the Renaissance Zone. City leaders would like to see an addition of five-hundred new housing units in the downtown area within the next five years. Planning agencies have also been active in promoting housing rehabilitation in older sections of the city such as the Roosevelt neighborhood to stem blight and strengthen the core of the city. Indeed, during the 1990s most inner city neighborhoods such as Hawthorne, Jefferson, and Horace Mann actually lost population even as rapid growth occurred along the edges of the city in sprawling new developments. As Fargo has grown and matured, however, the city has placed a growing emphasis on long-range urban planning. Furthermore, several developers desiring to bring in additional "big box" retail stores on the far south end of Fargo have been rebuffed by planning officials and nearby residents alike arguing that the developments do not conform to new long-range planning guidelines.
Since the late 1990s, the Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan Statistical Area has consistently had one of the lowest unemployment rates among MSAs in the United States. This, coupled with Fargo's low crime rate and the decent supply of affordable housing in the community, has prompted Money magazine to rank the city near the top of its annual list of America's most livable cities throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Nevertheless, Fargo in the early 21st century faces some challenges. Articles published in the summer of 2006 by The Forum , have noted that the supply of affordable housing in the city is shrinking due to area wages and incomes not rising as fast as housing costs in the city. Moreover, research conducted by the North Dakota State Data Center and the U.S. Census Bureau document that the city's population growth may be stalling after decades of steady growth. The 2005 census estimates showed a decrease in the population of Fargo proper, albeit an increase in the metro area as a whole. These numbers, however, have been disputed by city officials as the Census Bureau in recent years has been faulted for significantly underestimating the population of some North Dakota cities. Richard Rathge, the state demographer, has warned that Fargo may very well be losing its primary pool of new migrants as outlying areas of North Dakota, traditionally the geographic area upon which Fargo draws for new migrants, have been rapidly declining in population for decades. Fargo has relied upon international migration for a large proportion of its new in-migration for the last two decades.
West Fargo has increasingly been capturing a substantial share of the new population growth in the metropolitan area. Furthermore, the town of Horace is also expanding rapidly. Indeed, annexation disputes between the three municipalities have become increasingly common during the last decade. The increased fragmentation of metropolitan area growth may spell some long term challenges for Fargo in that the city has been accustomed to simply expanding its tax- and population base by more or less annexing new areas of growth. Over the long term Fargo may be compelled to focus greater attention on redevelopment in existing areas. Indeed, downtown and areas adjacent to NDSU have already seen increased levels of redevelopment. The share of redevelopment to greenfield development, however, is still highly tilted to the latter.
Geography
Fargo is located at 46°52′17″N 96°48′31″W / 46.87139°N 96.80861°W / 46.87139; -96.80861 (46.871414, -96.808658). Fargo is a core city of the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area which also includes Moorhead, West Fargo, and Dilworth as well as outlying communities.
Fargo sits on the western bank of the Red River of the North in a very flat region known as the Red River Valley. The Red River Valley was once a part of glacial Lake Agassiz, which drained away about 9,300 years ago. The lake sediments deposited from Lake Agassiz made the land around Fargo some of the richest in the world for agricultural uses. Early settlers sometimes called the Red River Valley a new "Garden of Eden".
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 98.3 km² (37.9 mi²), all land.
Climate
Due to its location in the Great Plains and its distance from both mountains and oceans, the city has an extreme continental climate, and a USDA Plant Hardiness of Zone 4. The city is known for its long, cold and snowy winters. In sharp contrast summers are warm to hot, and often quite humid with frequent thunderstorms. Spring and autumn are short and highly variable seasons.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 90,599 people, 39,268 households, and 20,724 families residing in the city. The population density was 922.0/km² (2,388.2/mi²). There were 41,200 housing units at an average density of 419.3/km² (1,086.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.17% White, 1.02% African American, 1.24% Native American, 1.64% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.44% from other races, and 1.45% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.29% of the population.
The top six ancestry groups in the city are German (40.6%), Norwegian (35.8%), Irish (8.6%), Swedish (6.5%), English (5.2%), French (4.7%).
There were 39,268 households out of which 26.5% had children unde
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