Fergus Falls, Minnesota Fergus Falls, MN Fergus Falls City Hall Fergus Falls City Hall Official seal of Fergus Falls, MN Location in Otter Tail County and the state of Minnesota Location in Otter Tail County and the state of Minnesota Fergus Falls, MN is positioned in Minnesota Fergus Falls, MNFergus Falls, MN Location in Otter Tail County and the state of Minnesota State Minnesota County Otter Tail Fergus Falls is a town/city in and the governmental center of county of Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States.
Fergus Falls Town Hall, modeled after Philadelphia's Independence Hall Fergus Falls features many different parks (tallgrass prairie and easterly woodlands), stores, and other tourist attractions.
The arts in Fergus Falls are booming with a wonderful improve theater program situated in the downtown area.
The town/city also lends its name to a song "Fergus Falls" by the band Field Report on their self-titled album (2012).
The falls from which the town/city gets part of its name were identified by Joe Whitford (a Scottish trapper) in 1856 and was promptly titled in honor of his employer, James Fergus. It is not known whether James Fergus ever visited the city, but Joe Whitford did not live to see the town/city develop, as he was killed amid 1862 Dakota war in Minnesota.
Cloud and found Whitford's lapsed claim, purchased the land, and assembled what is now the Central Dam in downtown Fergus Falls around 1871.
The town/city was incorporated in the late 1870s and is situated along the dividing line between the former great deciduous forest of the Northwest Territories to the East, and the great plains to the West, in a region of gentle hills, where the recent geological history is dominated by the recession of the glaciers from the last great Ice Age, with various lakes and small rivers about.
Two primary tornadoes hit Fergus Falls amid the early 20th century, the second, the 1919 Fergus Falls tornado, being the greater.
A strong economic division between later Scandinavian immigrant farmers and the earlier English and Scottish war veterans who retained control of the principal businesses of the town/city center, the banks, and the increasingly meaningful Otter Tail Power Company persisted for decades until a several generations of ethnic intermarriage and closing inward and outward migration largely erased the initially strong divisions of class and power along ethnic lines.
The importance of the Civil War experience to these early pioneer is highlighted by the naming of the streets of Fergus Falls: The intersecting principal thoroughfares are Lincoln Avenue and Union Avenue.
The early English wave of settlement claimed control of the falls along the Otter Tail River, and established the first Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches.
The Lutheran Brethren (Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America) established an academy in Fergus Falls, which today operates a private high school, theological seminary and mission society, with an office in Fergus Falls.
After the Interstate Defense Highway System assembled Interstate 94 along the edge of Fergus Falls in the late 1950s, populace mobility increased dramatically, and high school graduates increasingly left the town to attend universities in Morris, Fargo-Moorhead, or the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
As farming declined as an occupation and lifestyle, with large-scale commercial farming gradually replacing the family farm fitness amid the second half of the 20th century, the town/city appeared increasingly destined to turn into a retirement and nursing community, until a new migration of younger families was made possible by the Internet, which created opportunities for telecommuting and e-business.
According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 15.37 square miles (39.81 km2), of which 14.11 square miles (36.54 km2) is territory and 1.26 square miles (3.26 km2) is water. Highway 59 and Minnesota State Highway 210 (co-signed); and County Highways 1, 82 and 88 are the chief routes in Fergus Falls.
The following routes are positioned inside the town/city of Fergus Falls.
MN-210.svg Minnesota State Highway 210 Otter Tail County Highway 1 Otter Tail County Highway 82 Otter Tail County Highway 88 As of the census of 2010, there were 13,138 citizens , 5,814 homeholds, and 3,262 families residing in the city.
There were 5,814 homeholds of which 25.5% had kids under the age of 18 living with them, 43.0% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female homeholder with no husband present, 3.5% had a male homeholder with no wife present, and 43.9% were non-families.
The median age in the town/city was 43.4 years.
21.4% of inhabitants were under the age of 18; 8.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22% were from 25 to 44; 25.9% were from 45 to 64; and 22.2% were 65 years of age or older.
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,471 citizens , 5,633 homeholds, and 3,306 families residing in the city.
There were 5,633 homeholds out of which 28.1% had kids under the age of 18 living with them, 47.2% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female homeholder with no husband present, and 41.3% were non-families.
In the city, the populace was spread out with 23.0% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 24.5% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 22.1% who were 65 years of age or older.
The median income for a homehold in the town/city was $31,454, and the median income for a family was $44,280.
About 7.0% of families and 10.8% of the populace were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those age 65 or over.
Fergus Falls is a micropolitan with a diversified economy that includes healthcare, manufacturing, commercial, agricultural, knowledge technology, and utilities.
According to the Fergus Falls Economic Improvement Commission's 2015 Community Profile the biggest employers in the town/city are: 3 Otter Tail County 370 4 Fergus Falls Public Schools 337 9 City of Fergus Falls 186 11 Minnesota State Community and Technical College 135 Minnesota State Community and Technical College Fergus Falls is home to a several arts and culture organizations and has a reputation of being a cultural core in West Central Minnesota.
A Center for the Arts mission is to connect artists and audiences by providing the best possible arts experiences that inspire imagination, curiosity, creativity and learning.
The Kaddatz Galleries is a nonprofit art loggia positioned in historic downtown Fergus Falls, whose mission is to foster visual arts education and appreciation, and to maintain a loggia where the works of Charles Beck and other recognized small-town artists are accessible to the public.
The Lake Region Arts Council serves 9 counties (Becker, Clay, Otter Tail, Wilkin, Traverse, Stevens, Grant, and Pope) and has its chief office in the River Inn Building in Fergus Falls.
The Lake Region Arts Council's mission is to encourage and support the arts in West Central Minnesota.
Their programs and services are made possible through an appropriation from the Minnesota State Legislature, Legacy Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund and the Mc - Knight Foundation.
Springboard for the Arts' mission is to cultivate a vibrant arts improve by connecting artists with the skills, contacts, knowledge and services they need to make a living and a life.
The band Field Report has a song titled after Fergus Falls on their eponymous debut album.
Fergus Falls Daily Journal Climate data for Fergus Falls, Minnesota United States Enumeration Bureau.
"Fergus Falls Economic Improvement Commission 2015 Community Profile".
"Average Weather of Fergus Falls, Minnesota".
Minnesota State Law Library-Roger L.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fergus Falls, Minnesota.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclop dia Britannica article Fergus Falls.
Fergus Falls Chamber of Commerce Fergus Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau Visitor Information Site Otter Tail County Historical Society Fergus Falls Daily Journal Online Municipalities and communities of Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States State of Minnesota
Categories:
Cities in Minnesota - County seats in Minnesota - Cities in Otter Tail County, Minnesota - Fergus Falls, Minnesota
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