Casselton, N.D., Community Surveys

Collection

Identifier: Mss 264

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Questionnaires (1924) and survey team reports compiled on Casselton, N.D., a Cass County community, in connection with the Institute of Social and Religious Research's series entitled American village studies; together with follow-up studies (1929, 1936) by Donald G. Hay of North Dakota Agricultural College. Includes detailed statistical and descriptive information relating to the population, social groups, agricultural conditions, banking, health, library, civic and social life, churches, and schools.

Dates

1924-1936

Creator

Hay, Donald G. (Donald Gordon), 1901- (Person)

Access

The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the NDSU Archives.

Copyrights

Copyrights to this collection is held by the NDSU Archives.

History

Casselton, North Dakota is located in Cass County, fifteen minutes west of Fargo on I-94. In 1873, Mike Smith arrived in what is now Casselton, North Dakota. He was there to plant cottonwood and willow trees along the Northern Pacific Railway right-of-way to act as a windbreak. In 1876, the railroad established a station there and called it Casstown, after railroad president George Cass. Also that year, a post office was established and officially designated “Casselton.” George Cass and his business partner Peter Cheney traded railroad stock for 10,000 acres near Casselton. They kept the land as one large farm and employed Oliver Dalrymple to run it. By 1885, the population had reached 1,365. The Great Northern Railway used Casselton as a transportation hub with a reservoir to supply water for the steam engines, as well as a roundhouse and service center. Railroad personnel were transferred to other locations in the 1920s, and the town’s population began to fall. In 1957, with the reservoir no longer needed for the railroad, the land was deeded to Casselton. It was developed as a municipal water supply. In 1978, the town began getting water from other sources and the reservoir was developed into a recreational center. The school district covers nearly 400 square miles and serves more than 800 students. In 2010, the population of Casselton was about 2,300.