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History · Fargo

Fargo’s post office opened in 1908, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Fargo was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 5 buildings. Below: maps from 1940 on and the census since 1990.

1908first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Fargo began

When was Fargo founded?

1908

The Fargo post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 140 in 19902020 census: 57118 years
Founding year: the first Fargo post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Fargo’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Fargo are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fargo’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fargo’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Fargo came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fargo.

Read it all →

Main lines and branches of railroads were being built across Arkansas in the late 1880s. By 1898, two of them—the St. Louis Southwestern Railway running roughly north–south, and the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad (M&NA) running roughly east–west—crossed. A post office with the name Fargo was established at the crossing, but it was not yet a town. In 1911, the two railways built a depot in Fargo.

At least 33 settlements formed along the railroad as the M&NA was built, including Fargo, where Leroy Mahon owned the farmland at the railroad crossing.

Leroy Mahon platted the land and created a settlement for Black families. In doing so, he created a freedmen's town.

ChaptersDevelopment as a "freedmen's town"

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Fargo, 1908 to 1976

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1908Post officeThe Fargo post office opens
  3. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1976Post officeThe Fargo post office closes
By decade

Fargo, decade by decade

Today1 recent
ARMap-doton-Fargo2005ARMap-doton-Fargo
On the map

Fargo on the map, 1940 to 1971

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fargo. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Fargo on the 1940 USGS mapFargo on the 1958 USGS mapFargo on the 1971 USGS map1940Brinkley sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fargo.

On the National Register

1 listing protects 5 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts
first listed
2010
Fargo Training School Historic District
Fargo Training School Historic District
Districts
All 1 listings
Fargo Training School Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2010

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Fargo, census by census

010020002020Peak: 140

Between 57 and 140 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fargo’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Fargo had its own post office from 1908 to 1976.

Fargo
1908–1976
19001960today
Gone or out of use
Beauty Spot ChurchchurchFargo Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Fargo
Munn

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Fargo’s history

What year was Fargo founded?

The Fargo post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Fargo?

One place: the Fargo Training School Historic District (listed 2010).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.