| Fargo on the eastern border of North Dakota | | | | version of what had gone before; brick |
| was renamed in honour of the colourful Wells | | | | buildings and a new water system helped the |
| Fargo Express Company founder, William Fargo, | | | | town to develop in a way that the old format |
| after it had originally been known as | | | | could not have allowed. This new |
| Centralia. The city sits on the west of the | | | | infrastructure formed the basis of a thriving |
| Red River, the State of Minnesota to the | | | | community and expansion soon followed. |
| east, and is only 275 miles from the major | | | | |
| conurbation of Minneapolis-St.Paul. | | | | A hotel in Fargo was the first major building |
| | | | to be erected in the town. The Headquarters |
| The largest city in North Dakota, Fargo is | | | | Hotel built in 1872, housed not only guests, |
| ideally located next to the rich agricultural | | | | but government and railroad offices. However, |
| belt of the Central Plains and is nicknamed | | | | the original Headquarters survived for only |
| the Gateway to the West because of its | | | | two years before being destroyed by a fire |
| location at the crossroads of major railroads | | | | started in the kitchen. But, in yet another |
| and the Red River. As the town developed in | | | | example of the resilience and fortitude of |
| the 1870s and 1880s it was helped by being an | | | | the early settlers, it was completely rebuilt |
| early stopping off spot for the Steamboats. | | | | within 90 days. |
| The mixture of trade arriving by river and | | | | |
| railroad helped build the town's importance | | | | The town continued to grow steadily until the |
| to the region. | | | | Second World War. After the conflict ended |
| | | | Fargo entered a boom period and expanded |
| The first setback for the town occurred when | | | | rapidly. Even a violent tornado in 1957, |
| Fargo was almost entirely razed in June 1893 | | | | which destroyed a large portion of northern |
| after a small ash fire behind a grocery store | | | | Fargo, couldn't stop the town's expansion. In |
| quickly spread and engulfed hundreds of the | | | | yet another example of the town's resilience, |
| closely-built wooden buildings. But, out of | | | | the affected areas were soon rebuilt and any |
| that disaster sprung a better, sanitised | | | | signs of the devastation quickly removed. |