Cass County, N.D. Contract Bonds Collection

Collection

Identifier: Mss 407

Staff Only

Scope and Content

The Cass County, N.D. Contract Bonds Collection is broken down into three series: City of Fargo Building Contract Bonds Series, Cass County School District Contract Bonds Series, Cass County Public Works Contract Bonds Series, and Bonds of County Officials Series.

The City of Fargo Building Contract Bonds Series range from the years 1893 to 1936. They include bonds for construction of public builds such as the county courthouse, county hospitals, city hall, fire and police stations, and water works station. There are also contracts for the North Dakota Agricultural College for construction of the Drill Hall, steam heating and light plant, chemical laboratory, and library building. There are also contracts for public school building built in the city between 1893 and 1915. There are contracts for construction of bridges over the Red River, and culverts in the city. There are other bonds related to city infrastructure such as sewer, water mains, sidewalks, and street paving.

The Cass County School District Contract Bonds Series is arranged by district number, and are related to the construction of school building throughout the county, both in villages as well as rural one-room school building. They range from building built between 1896-1936.

Cass County Public Works Contract Bonds Series, are contracts produced between 1922 and 1948. They include such things as rural bridge and culvert construction, grading, graveling and oiling roads. Most of the contracts are produced by the North Dakota State Highway Commission.

The majority of the Bonds of County Officials Series, are village and township Justices of the Peace. They mostly are from between the 1910s to 1961. They are arranged in alphabetical order by township or village name. There is one contract bond for Cass County Auditor, that belonging to F. Ford Doherty, dated 1929.

Dates

1893-1961

Creator

North Dakota. District Court (Cass County) (Organization)

Access

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

Copyrights

Copyrights to this collection is held by the State of North Dakota

History

The North Dakota Constitution of 1889 created a system of district courts to serve as courts of original jurisdiction below the Supreme Court. It prescribed the numbers and sizes of the original districts, as well as providing for judges and their terms of office. District Three was created in 1889, to include Cass, Steele and Traill counties. Presiding judges included William B. McConnell 1889-1896, Charles A. Pollock 1897-1916, and Albert T. Cole 1917-1919.

In 1909 the North Dakota Legislature enacted a law providing that district court judges should hence forth be elected on a no-party ballot. This measure became effective with the 1910 election. (1909 N.D. Sess. Laws ch. 82, §1). The 1919 Legislature reorganized the district court system, reducing the number of districts to six, but for the first time establishing multi-judge districts. Additional judges were added in 1919, 1955, and 1967. District One, created in 1919 included Nelson, Grand Forks, Griggs, Steele, Barnes, Traill, and Cass counties. Three judges were assigned initially and two additional judges were added in 1967.

In 1979 the Supreme Court directed a complete reorganization of the district court system. The state was divided into seven districts identified in terms of their geographic locations. Cass County became part of the East Central Judicial District, together with Steele and Traill counties. The 1991 North Dakota Legislature unified the trial courts by abolishing the county courts and combining their functions into the district court.

Extent

2 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Cass County, N.D. Contract Bonds Collection consists of bonds related to construction of public works in the City of Fargo, as well as the rural townships and villages in Cass County. The collection also includes bonds for town and township Justices of the Peace.