Fergus Falls’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 2 old photos of Fergus Falls. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The falls from which the city gets part of its name were discovered by Joe Whitford (a Scottish trapper) in 1856 and promptly named in honor of his employer, James Fergus. It is not known whether Fergus ever visited the city, but Whitford did not live to see the city develop, as he was killed during the 1862 Dakota war in western Minnesota. In 1867, George B. Wright was at the land office at St. Cloud and found Whitford's lapsed claim, purchased the land, and built what is now the Central Dam in downtown Fergus Falls around 1871. After Wright died in 1882, his son Vernon moved from Boston to Minnesota and took over his father's interests in the town. Vernon Wright was also one of the two people who established the Otter Tail Power Company in 1907. The city was incorporated in the late 1870s and is situated along the dividing line between the former great deciduous forest of the Northwes…
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Fergus Falls’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fergus Falls’s history is told.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewGreetings from Fergus Falls Minne…, 1908: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Fergus Falls, decade by decade
1990s
14 historic places in Fergus Falls
14 places in Fergus Falls are on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
When they were listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Greetings from Fergus Falls Minnesota - DPLA - 41063a160dc8fa1575770722ac26b2f5 (1908) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (2) and the National Register (4). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.