When Ben Franklin Junior High School was built in 1951, there was already a school named Ben Franklin located on the same block.
The first Ben Franklin was a small school and sat on the southwest corner of 15th Avenue North and Eighth Street. The old school was known as Little Ben and the new school as Big Ben.
The thought process for the Big Ben started during the annexation of the Village of North Fargo, a process that lasted from 1922 through 1925, when there were several proposals for a new grade school.
Despite the early discussions, when it was announced in September 1923 that a new school would be built, the matter went to court where it was decided that the Village pupils would attend Fargo schools and pay tuition.
So in May 1926, after the annexation was completed, a new school was planned.
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The following month, members of the board explained, "The North Fargo school will be a six-room unit, three rooms to be finished for use at once. Like our other new schools, the building is so planned that it can be added to later, as the increase of population may require. The board is able, if necessary, to finance this school aside from the proposed bond issue, and work on it has already started."
In December 1926, the board formally accepted the structure, and the Franklin School at 1450 8th St. N., opened in January 1927. The building cost about $56,500. The contractor and architect fees were $53,000, the site cost $2,300 and the equipment about $100. Electric light fixtures and a few other items cost about $250 and were still to be installed.
Grades one through three, which had been housed in a rental building on 10th Street North, moved into the new building on Jan. 3 of that year.
Only the three classrooms on the first floor were finished at that time. The second-floor rooms would contain three more classrooms, the principal's office and a restroom.
A story at that time says, "Classrooms have hardwood floors and the hall floors and stairways are trazzo (sic), a composition flooring, which is permanent. The halls are equipped with steel lockers, set into the walls, and each room is equipped with steel book lockers, set into the walls, and with a closet for the use of the teacher and a closed book closet.
"Univent ventilators are used, this being the first public school in Fargo to be equipped this way. The ventilators operate in each room, independently and are automatic, straining the air through a filter and steam before it is passed, warmed, into the room. ..."
At the time the board accepted the new grade school, it also appropriated $100 toward bringing a Milwaukee child mental health expert, Miss Alma Binzel, to Fargo for a month during January and February.
Stories from 1951 when the new junior high school opened say it housed grades three through nine and the old grade school was used for first and second grade.
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Eventually, the junior high school was extended to the north and the grade school was razed.
Readers can reach Forum columnist Andrea Hunter Halgrimson at ahalgrimson@forumcomm.com
