What’s in a name?

Streets tell the history of Fergus Falls

By Tom Hintgen (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Thursday, March 6, 2008

In 1857, Joe Whitford was sent by his employer, James Fergus, to locate a site for a new community. Along the way he encountered a Native American family who told him of a location where there was a big falls or rapids.

After locating the rapids, Whitford staked out a town site at the big falls and named it Fergus Falls in honor of his employer. Later on, Whitford was remembered when a street was named in his honor.

Were he alive today, Whitford would no doubt be pleased about the street in his name and also that a statue in his likeness has been in place for two years — one block west of the high school levee at the intersection of North Whitford and East Summit.

“Great men and women are everlastingly revered and remembered by the streets in Fergus Falls,” Otter tail County Historical Society volunteer Rosanne Bergantine said after doing research on this subject.

Fergus Falls was incorporated as a town in 1872, seven years after the end of the Civil War. City fathers deemed it appropriate to name two of the most prominent downtown streets to commemorate Abraham Lincoln and the Union, which the 16th president so firmly believed in.

Sheridan and Sherman are named for generals who headed the union Army during the Civil War. Stanton honors Secretary of War Edwin Stanton who served in Lincoln’s cabinet.

Alcott and Douglas are linked to prominent abolitionists — Bronson Alcott and Louisa May Alcott. The abolitionist movement, prior to the Civil War, made the slavery question the prime concern of national politics and hastened the demise of slavery in the United States.

“The Scandinavian influence,” Bergantine wrote, “cannot be doubted. The Swedish settled into the southern section of Fergus Falls.”

Gustavus and Adolphus were named after Swedish military leaders. Vasa was named in honor of Gustavus Vasa who established Lutheranism in Sweden.

Italy shares in the foreign limelight. Cavour Avenue salutes the renowned Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, Italian statesman who died in 1861 and who spurred his country to unification. The two final holdouts to join in unification were Rome and Venice.

Some streets were renamed for good reason. One example is Bismarck Avenue — first named in honor of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck — that later became Washington Avenue just south of downtown Fergus Falls. Anti-German sentiment, following World War I, was a major factor in the name change.

Over the years survey crews had major input into naming streets in Fergus Falls. Among them are Beech, Birch, Cedar, Fir, Hazel, Laurel, Linden, Maple, Oak and Spruce.

United States presidents — in addition to Lincoln — are given due honor in the forms of Cleveland and Arthur Avenues and Jefferson Place.

“Each Fergus Falls street harbors history,” researcher Bergantine said. “It’s rewarding to find the reasons and the stories behind the names of the streets.”