Fargo College

Fargo College was an institution of higher learning that existed in Fargo between 1887 and 1922.  The first stirrings of the college occurred in 1882 within the Congregational Church, with whom the college was affiliated.  The college opened in 1887 and had its first graduating class in 1896.  At its peak, Fargo College enrolled approximately 600 students and the largest graduating class was 25 in 1917.  Low enrollment and financial problems coupled with World War I forced the college to close its doors in 1922.  After a failed attempt to re-open the college, Fargo College merged with Yankton College in Yankton, South Dakota, another college associated with the Congregational Church.  Yankton College closed in 1985.

The collection consists of college catalogs (1900-1917), handbooks (1905-1919), issues of the student newspaper Blue and Gold (1905-1920), the Wau-Kan annual (1907-1920), the junior annual (1904-1906), various files on the laying of the library cornerstone in 1910 attended by Theodore Roosevelt,and miscellaneous subject files.  A separate collection (SC 1133) contains a term paper (13 p.) on the history of the college by Julian Bjornson, various pamphlets and programs, list of alumni, and newspaper clippings. 
 

Education