Bison Hotel

The building at 420 Broadway was originally built in 1905 as the Viking Hotel. In 1940, it was sold to Gomer D. Anderson and K.S. ("Sparky") Davey who remodeled the building and reopened it as the Bison Hotel. The Bison was sold to A.H. (Andy) Anderson in 1945 and subsequent owners of the hotel were Loehle B. Gast and Robert Gibb Jr. The hotel and restaurant closed in 1972.

In 1973 the property was sold to Marshall and Lowell Goodman, who planned to renovate it into condominium office space. However, banks refused to consider loans for the remodeling and the tenants – a community of graphic designers, actors, architects, musicians and artists – were able to maintain their spaces. Part of the hotel became a theater for the Northwest Stage Co. The theater was closed in 1976 because of a dispute over the ownership of the building.

In 1977, Larry Bosma of Broadway Furniture, then located at 305 Broadway, rented the main floor and basement of the old hotel. Until 1986, the second and third floors housed the Fargo-Moorhead YWCA. Bosma converted those floors into apartments. The first floor was used by Bosma for his Broadway Furniture store, which closed in the fall of 2000.

Source material: In-Forum, September 26, 2000, article on Broadway Furniture closing. Research by Forum Librarian Andrea Halgrimson.