Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #7

Here's a little Grand Forks history for you:

Grand Forks could have been a bigger city from the beginning, except, during the time that the most people had emigrated to the area, North Dakota was considered a "dry" state (meaning they didn't sell or serve alcohol within state limits). East Grand Forks was established across the river in Minnesota because the trappers and traders that first called "Les Grandes Fourches" home wanted to get their drunk on. East Grand Forks had a brewery and 30+ saloons.

These days, Grand Forks is full of drinking and hockey-watching, but I wonder if East Grand Forks is still considered the rough side of town.

Old Main (c. 1890), the first building of the UND campus (photo courtesy of this website)

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #6

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Grand Forks and the nearby metropolitan North Dakota cities have among the lowest unemployment rates. #1 is Bismarck (3.2%), #3 is Fargo (3.7%), and #11 is Grand Forks (4.4%).

To compare: the Portland/Vancouver/Hillsboro area is #212 with 8.1% unemployment. Eugene, Oregon's next largest metropolitan area, is #246 with 8.7% unemployment. The highest is #372, El Centro, CA with 26.8%, but it's mostly prisons and farmland, so I'm not sure whether it really counts.

The farmlands of El Centro, where it can get up to 122 degrees in July

The good news is that if I choose to stay in North Dakota, most of my clients will be employed. The bad news is that if I don't open my private practice, I may bump the unemployment rate up and bring shame to the community.

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #5

They love their Olive Garden!

Josh called my attention to this article about Marilyn Hagerty, an 85-year-old Grand Forks food critic who reviewed the "largest and most beautiful restaurant now operating in Grand Forks." That restaurant is Olive Garden.


There are multiple things I love about the story. Firstly, the fact that the food critic at the Grand Forks Herald is an 85-year-old woman who writes sincere articles about chain restaurants is awesome. Secondly, it reminds me that I, too, liked Olive Garden once upon a time, so I shouldn't be such a food snob.

The Grand Forks Olive Garden, with an inset picture of Hagerty

The best way to learn about a culture is to eat the local food. I was worried it would be all buffalo jerky and venison, but maybe it will be chicken alfredo and breadsticks instead.

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #4

They hate pets. Or, at least, the majority of apartment complexes do not allow pets unless they are service animals.

I don't know why they hate pets so much. Usually you just pay a pet deposit (which you never get back) and a cleaning deposit (which you also never get back) and things are good. But at some point, Grand Forks landlords decided to put their feet down and just say no.

This will be the first time we've lived apart.

Sorry, Mercury, it looks like this is an adventure on which you are not invited.

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #3

There was a huge, devastating flood there-- the Red River Flood of 1997. It was the worst flood of that river since 1826. Floodwaters reached over 3 miles inland and caused an estimated $3.5 billion in damage. The people of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks banded together to build a 47 foot tall sandbag wall, but, unfortunately, the water rose over 54 feet and 50,000 people had to be evacuated. At the time, it was the largest evacuation in the United States since the Civil War. 

photo courtesy of this website

Apparently the Red River is prone to flooding due to its northward flow. Seriously, the river flows south to north because of so much melting snow. I'll make sure to get an apartment on the top floor.

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #2

Their alumni are a little racist. Maybe not super racist, but, still, racist.

How can I say this? Well, there has been a controversy for the past few (unknown amount of) years regarding the UND mascot-- the Fighting Sioux. The school had been asked to change it, but at the time an alumnus, Ralph Engelstad, was funding the building of a new (amazingly awesome) arena, cleverly titled the Ralph Engelstad Arena. According to some online accounts, Ralph Engelstad was the kind of man to host Third Reich parties on Hitler's birthday, so it should come as no surprise to anyone that he vehemently opposed the changing of UND's mascot to something more politically correct. In fact, he threatened to halt construction on the arena at the time this was an burgeoning issue.

But now it's a decade later, the arena is built, and Mr. Engelstad is dead. One would think the school would just go ahead and change the mascot, and they're currently in the process of it. However, Mr. Engelstad was so against changing the mascot that he made sure the Fighting Sioux logo was worked into the decor of the arena so often that it would basically be cost prohibitive to change it.

People in the know just call it "The Ralph"

I find the whole thing very fascinating, and I can think of a dozen or so stories from UO's history that are just as or more racist, but, still, it's pretty racist.

I know that at least one or two of you will think "That's not racist! It's just school pride!" and, yeah, you might be right. You could also call the KKK a social club, but it doesn't change the overall message.

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #1

To prepare for internship, I have been doing some research about the city in which I am going to live.

Turns out Grand Forks proper spans two states: North Dakota and Minnesota. Technically the Minnesota side is called East Grand Forks, but, still, I could live in Minnesota and work in North Dakota. Inexplicably, this blows my mind.