Let's talk architecture today.
The Kirkbride building in Fergus Falls, Minn., has been in the news because a group hopes to save the grand old structure from demolition and turn it into a new college.
Bruce Eckre, Wahpeton, N.D., seeing a photo of the building in The Forum, has a question.
Bruce thinks the building looks as though it was designed by the same architect who designed Old Main at North Dakota State University. He wonders if he is right.
He also thinks the Fergus Falls building was of the same design, but of a different brick color, as Old Main at North Dakota State College of Science, Wahpeton.
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Neighbors, which doesn't know a cornerstone from a cupola, sent some inquiries and received an e-mail from Ron Ramsey, associate professor in the Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at NDSU:
"If the Fergus Falls building is the one I think it is," Ron writes, "then, yes, all three buildings are of similar style (called the 'Richardsonian Romanesque'). But they are each by a different architect."
Old Main at NDSU was designed by Fargo architects George and Walter Hancock, Ron says, while W.B. Dunnell of the Twin Cities designed the Fergus Falls building.
Ron believes the Science College Old Main was designed by still another architect from the Twin Cities, but he can't pin down his name.
But let's give Bruce high marks for having a good eye, because, Ron says, "The Richardsonian Romanesque was a rare phenomenon in the Red River Valley, so one might assume the few examples we have had come from the same author." And Bruce is the one who spotted the architectural similarity, thus creating the cornerstone for today's column.
All for Aunt Mable?
Hardly a week goes by without Neighbors receiving more stories about the old Galloping Goose branch line trains, or at least requests for more such stories.
A future Sunday Neighbors will carry more Goose stories. But to tide you Goose fans over, here's another memory.
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It comes from Leonard Bergquist, Ponsford, Minn., who writes, "I remember back around 1935-'36 there was a 'Goose' that traveled from Huron, S.D., to Benson, Minn.
"My Aunt Mable lived in Huron and took the Goose three or four times a year to see her parents who lived in Benson. The Goose would stay in Benson two overnights and leave in two or three days back to Huron.
"I figured," Leonard concludes, "that the railroad did this just for Aunt Mable.
"Of course, I was young and could be told anything and believe it."
But you can believe this, Leonard; more stories about the Goose will be running soon.
If you have an item of interest for this column, mail it to Neighbors, The Forum, Box 2020, Fargo, N.D. 58107; fax it to 241-5487; or e-mail blind@forumcomm.com
