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Fargo Urban Renewal Agency. Fourth Street (ND R-1) Project Records

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 22-Oversize 13

Scope and Contents

The Fargo Urban Renewal Agency Fourth Street (R-1) Project records consist of meeting minutes, applications and supporting documents, and records related to land acquisition, property management, relocation of businesses and families, and land disposition, as well as subject files and financial records. The general correspondence files and most meeting minutes were not in the original records received. The only meeting minutes are for August and October 1957. The Applications and Documents Series contains copies of the various applications to the U.S. Housing and Home Finance Agency. Of note is the "Summary of Transactions and Documents" for the period 1955 to 1964 and includes a narrative history of the project from 1949 to 1962. Some of the documents include photographs of the urban renewal site. The Land Acquisitions Series contains correspondence with the HHFA office in Chicago, various lists and maps of land owners, those lands to be purchased or not purchased, and periodic reports to the Chicago Office for 1958 through 1960 and again in 1965. The major portion of the series consists of the individual land parcel files. The two major files are on the Great Northern Railway Company and Northern Pacific Railway Company concerning their trackage [tracks] in the area, and which contain correspondence, appraisals and the final agreements reached. The remaining files are for individual property owners and are organized by the parcel number assigned to each piece of property with the name of the owner. Generally these files contain correspondence with the owner, appraisals, legal documents concerning the title as well as on any legal action taken. The final cases listed deal with the property owners connected with the Second Street underpass project. These files contain, in addition to the items listed above, the appraisal documents and photographs of the buildings on the property. The Property Management Series concerns the Urban Renewal Agency's managing of the buildings and other property between period of purchase and the moving of all residents. The files deal with William A. Barnick, Jr., operating a temporary parking lot on the site, maintenance of apartments, collection of rents, tenant listings, and status reports sent to the HHFA office in Chicago for the period 1958 to 1962 and 1964 to 1965. The Relocation Series consists of two parts - Businesses and Families, with the later being the most extensive. General records include a reimbursement summary and fact sheet on relocation payment forms, lists of businesses in the area and to where they moved. The Family relocation part first contains general records such as correspondence with the Chicago office and individual families, partially complete set of meeting minutes for the Housing Review Board, summary of various cases, statistical charts on family characteristics, forms and pamphlets used, a manuscript on the history of the relocation project, summary of interviews with residents, various listings and standards for new housing. The final portion is the individual cases files for those families A through H. The remaining files evidently were not preserved. The Land Disposition Series concerns the sale of the various urban renewal parcels to various businesses, Fargo Library Board, and the Civic Center Site. Included is correspondence with the Chicago office, advertising of bids as well as parties interested in bidding, a copy of the Disposition Documents and Prospectus, newspaper advertisements, and final statistical summaries. The Subject Files Series contains a variety of material including copies of the appraisals done on all urban renewal lands, financial summaries of the project, the Agency's publications, a large collection of 8 ½ x 12 maps and transparencies of the project area, and newspaper clippings taken from the local press on the project from 1956 to 1961. The oversize maps the cover a wide variety of aspects of the urban renewal area are located in Oversize Collection 13. The Financial Records contained in three ledgers and which appear quite complete. They include the General Journal (1958 to 1968, 1971,) the General Ledger (1956-1968), and the Cash Disbursements/Cash Receipts Journal (1956-1968). The first accession was from the Fargo Planning Commission in 1978 when both records of the Fourth Street and Main Avenue renewal projects were received. The second accession was apparently acquired with one of the donations of Herschel Lashkowitz papers. The second accession was never part of Lashkowitz’s mayoral records. The initial accession was processed in 1979 and found in boxes one through ten. The second accession was processed in 2005 and found in boxes eleven through. No attempt has been to physically integrate the two accessions, although they have been integrated as one collection in the contents listing.

Dates

  • 1965-1971

Creator

Access

The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Institute.

Copyrights

Copyright is held by the State of North Dakota.

History

Since Fargo, N.D. was incorporated in 1875 the downtown area was the main commercial center for the city. But the portion from Fourth Street to the Red River had become a dead area for commercial development and stagnated. Deteriorated buildings, vacant lots becoming refuse dumps and general blight became a permanent part of the area. The Fargo City Commission in 1945 employed I. S. Shattuck as a city planning consultant. In 1952 he presented a master plan for the city which recommended a cluster of civic buildings in the Fourth Street area. The plan was approved and became part of the city ordinances. In 1954 Harold Bangert visited the Chicago regional office of the United States Housing and Home Finance Agency (HHFA) where he obtained information on the federal urban renewal program which had been broadened by the Housing Act of 1954 to include cities the size of Fargo. Civic leaders and city officials had for some time realized the necessity of improving three blighted areas in Fargo - Fourth Street, Main Avenue, and the Golden Ridge area Because of encouragement by federal officials, Fargo city officials secured passage, enabling the legislature to allow a city to accept federal aid. The Fargo Urban Renewal Agency was established with Earl Stewart as executive director, and a survey was done with a federal grant on the Fourth Street Project. In December of 1956 due to results of the survey, the Fargo Workable Program Report, was approved by the City Commission and in February of 1957 by the Chicago HHFA office. The final project applications were submitted and the property in the area was appraised with the first purchase of land for the future Civic Center made by the City of Fargo in April of 1957 and continuing into 1958. In February of 1958 the project had been approved with a federal grant of $1,026,209.00 and a loan, of $1,750,354.00. In July 1958 the Urban Renewal Agency purchased the Civic Center site from the City of Fargo and also began to purchase other tracts of land in the project area. Through 1958 and 1959 all land was obtained and buildings razed. In 1960 parcels of the land were sold to businesses and in March 1961 the Fargo Library Board purchased a tract for a new public library. After much delay, authorization was given in October, 1964 by the HHFA to include the construction of a Second Street underpass in the project. Work began on the underpass in January 1965 and was completed in November 1965 thus drawing the R-1 project to an end. The R-1 project, the first urban renewal project in North Dakota, became a model for the other communities throughout the United States. With the completion of the R-1 project full direction was directed at the R-2 Main Avenue Project upon which planning had begun in 1960.

Extent

4 Linear Feet (4 linear feet)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

A collection related to the renovation and renewal of a once properous and vital commerical area of Fargo that had stagnated.

Provenance

Donated by Fargo City Planning Commission, July 7, 1978 (Acc. 2023).

Separation Record

The following non-manuscript materials have been removed from the Fargo Urban Renewal Agency, Fourth Street (N.D. R-1) Project and sent to the sections indicated.

Maps (Institute Oversize Collection 13)

113 maps showing various aspects of the urban renewal area

Photographs (Institute Photographic Collection 2012)

254 items including "before" and "after" photographs, civic center area and razed buildings. 24 negatives of various homes in the area.

Property rights

The Institute for Regional Studies owns the property rights to this collection.

Subjects

Related Names

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Finding Aid to the Fargo Urban Renewal Agency Fourth Street Project Records
Description rules
Appm
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Institute for Regional Studies Repository

https://library.ndsu.edu/ndsuarchives/collections/institute-regional-studies-archive-collection
Contact:
West Building N
3551 7th Avenue North
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States

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