The population of Grand Forks has increased from 200 in 1873 to 17,112 in 1930, and is composed of many nationalities, although more than 75 percent of the native whites are of Norwegian or Canadian descent. A small section of the city bounded by Sixth and Eighth Avenues North and Twentieth and Twenty-third Streets North is a Scandinavian community designated locally as "Little Norway." Here Norwegian is spoken almost exclusively by the older people, although the children have acquired American speech and habits. Norwegian Independence Day, Syttende Mai (May 17), is celebrated by the residents of this district and their homes are then decorated with Norwegian flags. Much political activity of an earlier period centered about this little community, since it generally voted as a bloc. Politicians of that day believed that the candidate who was most liberal with ale would receive the community's vote, and on the eve of election torchlight parades marched through the streets of this district and candidates for office generously dispensed both oratory and beer.
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. FEDERAL BUILDING, 1st. Ave. N. at N. 4th St., houses the post office, United States courtroom, a branch of the United States Immigration Service, and the Federal Reemployment office. The superstructure is of white Bedford stone and pressed brick, with a base of solid granite. It has a 12-foot cornice of stone with carved and blocked ornaments. The lobby has marble floors and high wainscoting of marble, contrasting shades being used for borders. Fixtures are of quarter-sawed oak.
2. CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, 1st and 2nd Aves. N. between 4th and 5th Sts., has an auditorium unit constructed entirely without windows. It was the first public building in North Dakota to utilize indirect lighting throughout. It was erected in 1936-37 with WPA assistance at a cost of $275,000, and includes a pipe organ, the gift of the Grand Forks Music Association.
3. SORLIE MEMORIAL BRIDGE across the Red River connects Grand Forks, N. Dak., and East Grand Forks, Minn., on US 2. It is dedicated to the late A. G. Sorlie, former Governor of the State, and was built in 1929.
4. RADIO STATION KFJM (open daily 2:30-5 p.m.), top floor of the First National Bank Bldg., cor. DeMers Ave. and N. 4th St., is one of the few State-owned university radio stations in the United States. It is leased to a local company. A studio is maintained at the university.
5. TRIANGLE APARTMENTS, 5th and Chestnut Sts. and 5th Ave. S., mark the site of two of the most important buildings in early Grand Forks history. The city's first school building stood across the street from this triangle, on the courthouse site. In 1883 the old building was moved into the triangle and converted into the Park Hotel. The Arlington House, a hotel built by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1873, was also moved to this lot and in 1906 Col. Andrew Knutson purchased both buildings and operated them as the Arlington-Park Hotel. This hotel was torn down in recent years and the lumber used in the construction of the apartment building that now occupies the site.
6. GRAND FORKS COUNTY COURTHOUSE, 4th and 5th Sts. S. between Kittson and Bruce Aves., was erected in 1913 and designed by Buechner and Orth of St. Paul. It is a three-story Indiana limestone building of modified Classic design, with a figure of Justice surmounting its dome. The halls are finished in white marble with mural decorations. Embellishing the upper part of the rotunda are four painted lunettes showing typical North Dakota scenes.
7. SOLDIER'S MONUMENT, 6th St. S. and Belmont Rd., was donated by George B. Winship, early newspaper publisher, as a memorial to 168 local Civil War veterans, whose names are engraved on a bronze tablet. Mounted on a square base of Vermont granite, the monument represents a Union soldier "at rest."