Visiting Fergus Falls
Debbie and I visited Fergus Falls, MN on February 19, 2022. Temperature remained below zero the entire time.
Truth be told, everything I have written so far, I have written since Debbie and I visited Fergus Falls. I had wanted to use Fergus Falls as a practice run for visiting ancestral villages in Europe. And to see what I might want to write about afterwards. When I started writing, I realized that I needed to tell much more of the story before I could reflect on being there. So that is what I have done.
We traveled from the cabin in Mission Township, MN to Fergus Falls. We went through Brainerd and took 210 and 10 West and travelled through at least a half dozen little towns. As we passed through these towns, many of which had clearly fallen from their glory days, it did feel as if we were traveling back in time. Louis and Elizabeth had moved from Minneapolis to Fergus Falls 102 years before our visit. Had Louis visited these towns on his sales trips? What would he have seen?
Here are some of the things we saw:
HWY 210 - Open Roads and beautiful vistas
Lots of old farm architecture in varying states of use and decay.
Guiness Book of World Records Largest Foot Sculpture
A highlight was lunch at a farm to table restaurant across from where Liberty Garment would have been. We learned a lot about Fergus Falls from our waitress. Otter Tail County has the most lakes and elderly per capita. The Fergus Falls Historical society has a great website if it interests you. Louis is mentioned in a number of articles.
Debbie is standing about where the Sigelman Building stood @ 309 - 311 W. Lincoln Avenue, likely the first location of Liberty Garment Mfg. Co. from 1920. In 1986 it was taken down to widen Lincoln Ave.
Another reference to Liberty Garment was on Union Avenue which would have to mean one of these buildings. This corner abuts the river and a park.
“In 1932 Reuben brought a legal suit against his children and his partners in Liberty Garment Company. The settlement gave him the Union Avenue property, which included the Liberty Garment building and adjoining lot and the children retained the stock, continuing on with the Sigelman business on Lincoln Avenue and Reuben into the hide, wool, and junk business at the Park Hotel building under the name of the Otter Tail Wool and Fur Company.”
Mainstreet facing the other direction from the corner where Liberty had been. Doesn’t really do it justice. Cute and well preserved old river town.
Fergus Falls is known for some historical architecture. We stopped by the “Regional Treatment Center” which was a mental health hospital from 1890 until 2007. It is significant because it is one of the only remaining hospitals built in the Kirkbride Plan style.
It is enormous and covers 11 acres. It is vacant. A massive building.
And this is the house at 309 Oakland Place as it stands today. It was built in 1887 and last was for sale in 2015 for around $100k. Louis and Elizabeth paid $35/month rent in 1930. It is a beautiful structure with incredible detail in the woodwork.
The house was just second house up from Lake Alice which is a 27 acre lake…the DNR isn’t quite sure how to classify it…it has bullheads and fatheads so they call it a lake. It may just be a pond.
I feel lucky that I got to go there. I find it historically and personally interesting to see what they might have seen. If nothing else, I’ve walked where they walked and started to contemplate their stories. And what it means for mine.
As an aside, I wanted to buy a t-shirt or something that said “Fergus Falls.” So we asked around if there were any stores besides Walgreens that might sell local things like t-shirts. We were sent away from main street toward Interstate 94. The area looked like any suburban neighborhood bordering the interstate. But it was also depressed. There was a mall that was empty. Some car dealer lots. A hotel. etc. Next to the bowling alley, we found our t-shirt store. It was a family business that had been there for 50 years. Chatting with the ‘90 year patriarch who is too young to have heard of Liberty Garment down the street, he shared with us that they just added guns and amo to the store. So I picked up a Fergus Falls High School t-shirt, but passed on the hunting rifle. Oh Minnesota.
A sign we saw on the highway heading out of town. Yes.
