6. UNITED STATES POST OFFICE AND COURTHOUSE, 705 1st Ave. N., erected in 1929-30 at a cost of $600,000, is in Italian Renaissance style, built of reinforced concrete faced with limestone. Ninety tons of steel were used in the first floor, making it strong enough to support 10 stories in addition to its present three.
7. FARGO'S FIRST HOUSE (private), 119 4th St. S., is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hector. It was built in 1871 of oak logs cut in what is now Island Park, and, although used for two years as a hotel, it was originally intended as the home of A. H. Moore, United States marshall.
8. CASS COUNTY'S FIRST COURTHOUSE, 708 1st Ave. S., has been remodeled into the DeVolne Flats. This two-story gray frame building has had a varied existence. Built in 1874, it served for 11 years as the seat of the county government. It was then moved to the corner of Seventh and Front Streets and used for a Government land office until October 4, 1886, when the construction of a new Northern Pacific depot made it necessary that the building be again moved, this time to Eighth Street. It remained there for a few months, then was sold for $500 and moved to its present location where it became the first club rooms for the Fargo Y. M. C. A.
9. MASONIC GRAND LODGE MUSEUM (open weekdays 9-5), 501 1st Ave. N., houses the Masonic Library, the only lodge library in the State. The museum includes exhibits ranging from Indian artifacts and historical relics to religious articles. Fargo's first sewing machine was donated to the lodge because its owner found it so "noisy to run."
The library specializes in genealogical research for Masonic families. Originally it was part of the museum and contained only copies of rare books. The lodge members became interested in a State-wide program of adult education, and began a lending library of non-fiction books. A collection of 800 rare volumes, a gift to the library of T. S. Parvin, secretary of the Iowa grand lodge, was destroyed in the Fargo fire; the library later bought Mr. Parvin's entire private collection. Important items include Orationes Philelphi printed in 1491; a collection of Bibles dating from the time of King Christian III of Denmark (1503-1559); a copy of the first printed constitution of Freemasonry, dated 1723; and histories of some of the early guides.
10. MONUMENT TO GANGE ROLF, Bdwy. at 5th Ave. N., stands in the Great Northern depot park. Rollo, as Gange Rolf was also known, entered France in 909 with a band of Northmen, and founded Rouen. Two years later he installed himself Duke of Normandy. His line through William the Conqueror became the royal house of England in 1066, and the reigning family of Norway in 1905. The statue, a gift of the Society of Normandy to the Norse people of America, was unveiled in 1912 on the 1001st anniversary of the founding of Normandy.
11. ISLAND PARK, Bdwy. at Red River, Fargo's first park, was donated for a recreational center in 1877 by the Northern Pacific Railway. It was undeveloped until the early 1880's when the city council undertook the task of landscaping. In the attractive grounds are various athletic facilities and a building that serves as a community center.
A granite Monument in a fenced plot near the south driveway was intended for a sundial but was never completed. The oddly phrased religious sentiments on the sides are by O. W. Lien of Breckenridge, Minn., donor of the shaft, who said they were dictated to him by a voice.