House and Building History

Preliminary Work

The Institute for Regional Studies has a number of resources to help in documenting the history of a house or building.  Before coming to the Institute to do research:

* Look at the abstract and note the various people who owned the land and later the building.

* Ask your neighbors about previous owners, changes to the property, and neighborhood history.

* Call your city building permit office at city hall and check the permit for information about the builder, owner (if different from
  builder), architect (if there was one), materials, and original cost.  Fargo building permits date back to circa 1890 and are located
  in the Building Inspection Office, 200 3rd Street North (701-241-1561).  Currently plans for houses are kept five years while
  commercial structures are kept permanently

* Look at your property tax statement for the legal description

Staff

* The Institute staff is trained to assist you with a variety of sources.  For more in-depth assistance, you will need to make
  arrangements with a private research specialist. Our hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday.

Maps and Atlases

* The Sanborn Insurance maps, 1880s to 1950s, provide detailed information, including structure "footprints" of buildings for Fargo and other cities of size in North Dakota.  The maps are on microfilm (Institute Microfilm G1441.G475 1983 S25). A listing of all cities and years is available at  http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndirs/collections/manuscripts/arch&hp/sanborn/index.html. The Institute does have the original 1922 edition with supplements (Mss 1565), and the 1929 edition (Mss 1563) with supplements dating from 1931 to 1956.

* Fire Underwriters Inspection Bureau maps (Case 8) are another series of insurance maps, mostly from 1954 to 1965 with
  a small number dating back to 1921, which include many smaller North Dakota communities.  Usually only businesses, not
  houses, are shown on the maps.  A listing of all towns and years available is on our web site at
  http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndirs/collections/manuscripts/arch&hp/fire/index.html.

* County plat maps or atlases are particularly useful for rural areas.  They will show land ownership for larger tracts of land.  All the
  early plat books are available on microfilm in the Institute.

* U.S. Geological Survey topographical maps show terrain contours and major geographical features and include indications of
  number and location of structures in rural areas.

Photographs

Photographs provide some of the best information regarding houses and business buildings.  The Institute has an extensive collection of photographic images that include houses and business establishments.  Indexing to the specific address is being done as individual photographs are being cataloged.  Knowing former owners and business names will help the reference staff in locating possible images.  Listed below are only a few of the major collections of interest.

* The Fargo Homes Photograph Collection is a unique collection of some 5,000 photographs primarily of Fargo houses and some  downtown businesses.  They were taken by the W.J. Lane Company, a local real estate company, and span from circa 1910 to  the 1950s. The collection is arranged in street and building number order.  For most we also have the original negative.

* Fargo Photograph Collection (Photo 51) is a large, eclectic collection of images of businesses, people, social scenes, houses,
  and other structures.  The collection is organized topically or by proper name.

* Cass County Historical Society Photograph Collection (Photo 2070) includes quite a number of Fargo related images as well
  as other towns in Cass County, N.D.  A detailed finding aid is available at the Institute.

Archives and Manuscripts

The Institute has a number of archival collections related to architecture and historic preservation.  A listing with finding aids to all collections related to architecture and historic preservation are now available on the Institute web site at http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndirs/collections/manuscripts/arch&hp/index.html.  Please consult the page for Institute holdings.  You can also search the entire Institute web site using "Search" on the home page.

* The papers of architects William Kurke & Associates, and S. Marius Houkom.

* Microform copies of nomination forms for North Dakota properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places
  as of Dec. 31, 1982 (Institute Microfiche F637.N37 1984), and photocopies for Cass County nominations from 1974 to the present (Mss 178).

* Check state and federal census records for information about former owners.

Books and Periodicals

* Community, neighborhood, business and family histories may contain information on buildings.  Search the on-line catalog
  at http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/webpals.html.

* City directories contain information about owners and occupants.  We have a complete run of directories for Fargo that span 1881
  to the present (Institute F644.F2A1; and Institute Microfiche F644.F2A1 for 1881-1927).  The 1910 and 1928-[present] volumes
  contain a reverse index by address.

* The Forum newspaper has been indexed since 1976 with limited indexing done of earlier issues of the Fargo Forum.  The early
  indexing does include access by business name, and addresses are also indexed if given in the article.  The indexes are now
  on-line at http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/Forum/index.html.

Fargo Publications

There are a number of publications related to historic structures in Fargo, most based upon historic building surveys.  Listed below are only a few.  Search the on-line catalog using "ST Historic buildings" and "ST Architectural surveys" as the subject search terms.  The Institute collects similar publications for all areas of North Dakota and can be located through the on-line catalog.

* Historic Resources of North Side Fargo : Inventory and Assessment.  Butte, Mont. : Renewable Technologies, 1986.  (Institute
  NA7238.F3 H57 1986)

* Ness, Martin K.  Results of a Historic Architecture Study from Sixth Avenue to 13th Avenue South and University Drive to
  Mid-block of 14th Street South, Fargo, North Dakota.  Fargo, N.D. : Ness Architects, 1999.  (Institute NA7238.F3 N47 1999)

* Ness, Martin K.  Results of a Historic Architecture Study from Main Avenue to 13th Avenue South and University Drive to
  Mid-block of 14th Street South, Fargo, North Dakota.  Fargo, N.D. : Ness Architects, 1996.  (F644.F2 N47 1996, architecture
  library collection and Institute)

* Ramsey, Ronald Lanier. Fargo-Moorhead, a guide to historic architecture.  [Fargo, N. D.] : Plains Architectural Heritage
  Foundation: Fargo-Moorhead Board of Realtors : Multiple Listing Service, 1975. (NA7238.F3 R35, architecture library collection
  and Institute)

* Roberts, Norene A. Fargo's Heritage.  [Fargo, N.D] : Fargo Heritage Society, c1983. (F644.F2R63 1983, general library collection
  and Institute)

North Dakota State University Buildings

The NDSU University Archives, located with the Institute, maintains a number of sources regarding buildings on the campus.  Its building file collection consists of clippings, dedication programs and other items arranged by name of building or significant landmark on the campus.  It also includes a copy of the nomination to the National Register of Historic Places for a number of the older structures.  All architectural drawings are located at Physical Plant in Thorson Maintenance. Their telephone number is 231-9529.

* The Spectrum index may also prove helpful at http://dp3.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/specarch/.

* Welcome to the North Dakota State University Campus contains much information on most of the buildings on the NDSU campus.
 
 
 

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