Published On: September 20, 2019
An autographed photo of aviator Florence Klingensmith has been added to the Institute for Regional Studies Archives photograph collections. Included with the photo is a newspaper clipping reporting here feet of making 1,078 loops in Minneapolis, as well as a signed envelope, sent via air mail, in which Miss. Klingensmith included her nickname “Tree Tops”.
Florence Gunderson Klingensmith was born in Oakport Township, just north of Moorhead, Minnesota. She was inspired to learn to fly after a 1928 visit of Charles Lindbergh to Fargo. She became the first licensed female pilot in North Dakota. She barnstormed the county performing at county fairs and air shows, and air races, winning a number of prizes. Unfortunately, her life was cut short in 1933, when her plane crashed at the International Air Races in Chicago, Illinois.
Florence Klingensmith will be one of the female pilots featured in the One Book One Community events held at various Fargo, Moorhead, and West Fargo libraries. For more information on the events, please visit: https://1book1community.org/events/