Going It Alone: Fargo Grapples with the Great Depression

by David B. Danbom

In 1930 Fargo was a winner in a region where winning came hard. As the commercial center for the vast, sparsely settled Northern Plains, it grew even during the Depression, attracting hopeful entrepreneurs off the farm. In Going It Alone, historian David B. Danbom shows how the city struggled to survive problems it could not solve by itself. A critical complement to Depression histories focused on federal policies and programs, this study demonstrates how Washington's initiatives for relief played out in a community of people born into a steadfast culture of self-sufficiency and independence.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2005

Reviews

[Karen Kohoutek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read this for ages, and finally got to it in mid-pandemic, which seems pretty funny, considering its material on how Fargoans largely thought they could handle the Depression in a spirit of "cooperative individualism," which completely fell apart. After which, rescued by federal funds, they went back to blithely believing themselves self-sufficient.

The footnotes on this are incredibly dense, and left me with a million topics for further research. I did learn that, in the later '20s and early '30s, with a much smaller population and land mass, there were almost 100 neighborhood groceries, all of which would offer credit and free delivery! Also, about 1 in 8 Fargo homes had live-in maids, which was a surprise. And when Prohibition began to wane with the acceptance of 3.2 beer, there were a period when bars were open 24 hours (except for a few hours on Sunday mornings). Life is way more inconvenient now.

The local economy, the role of women in the workplace, and also of children, are covered in some depth, but the really striking material was on the real poor, particularly the transient population. As now, Fargo was a beacon for the impoverished from farms and rural communities that had no jobs or opportunities of any kind, and these people were, as they still are, treated as second-class citizens (if that). The problems of single people, whose lives were treated as of much less value than members of families, are also pretty enlightening.

A really good source of information on how we got here as a society, and I'm guessing much of it reflects other Midwestern towns, which may have their own share of boosterism and "lack of reflection."

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book about fargo during the depression. It was kinda dull. Lots of trivial, explaining. And there were local stories in it I enjoyed, but it was free at the library. Not bad.