Page Contents for Fergus Falls, Minnesota

Statistics & Facts

Location

History & History-related items

City Attractions

Government

Chamber of Commerce.

Organizations, Churches, and Sports.

Miscellany

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Statistics & Facts

The Minnesota state capital is St. Paul.
The population of Fergus Falls is approximately 13,000 (2000), 13138 (2010).
The approximate number of families is 5,385 (1990), 5814 (2010).
The amount of land area in Fergus Falls is 25.238 sq. kilometers.
The amount of surface water is 2.215 sq kilometers.
The distance from Fergus Falls to Washington DC is 1128 miles.
The distance to the Minnesota state capital is 169 miles. (as the crow flies)
Fergus Falls is positioned 46.28 degrees north of the equator and 96.06 degrees west of the prime meridian.

Location

on I-94, about 65 miles southeast of Fargo, North Dakota and 180 miles northwest of Minneapolis/St.Paul
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History & History Related Items

Joseph Whitford, hired by land speculator, James B. Fergus, came to this area in 1854 along the Red River. He called his claim Graham's Point. While returning, he met with some Indians who told him of an area 20 miles up river with a waterfall or rapids. He decided to check it out and staked out another site there. He named it for Fergus who had financed his exploration. He was killed in an Indian Raid in 1862. Fergus later went to Montana to find gold and was successful. He died in 1902 never realizing the potential of Fergus Falls which was named for him. The first permanent settler in Fergus Falls was Ernest Buse who came in 1865. He and his family lived here for two years before anyone else arrived. The area did not grow much under the 1870's when George Burdick Wright, a Minneapolis real estate agent, bought land along the Otter Tail River and the town developed rapidly. The river was the main livelihood for the town with Sawmills, flourmills and woolen mills along its banks. The rapids were also used for electrical power. The railroad came in 1879 which settled the success of the area. Good produced here could now be shipped out effectively. While the railroad helped Fergus Falls to grow, later the route would become a well-used bike path.

In the 1960's, the construction of Interstate I-94 was started and passes through the city limits of Fergus Falls. I-94 stretches from Chicago to Montana. Just as the railroad did in the late 1800's the "interstate" as locals call it, has brought the town into the new world of franchise businesses and growth. Without the interstate the city would be the small out-of-the way town it use to be.

Interestingly, the Otter Tail river which made the founding of the city possible was put into a concrete underground culvert where I-94 passes over it. Most passers-by never know they are crossing the river that founded the town.
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Attractions

Pebble Lake
near Fergus Falls, this lake offers camping. Softball complexes, playgrounds and lake accesss. There is a public beach and DeLagoon Park.
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Fergus Falls City Government

Fergus Falls is the county seat of Otter Tail County.

Fergus Falls Chamber

Fergus Falls Area Chamber of Commerce
202 S. Court
Fergus Falls, MN 56537
Phone: (218)736-6951
Email

Fergus Falls Organizations

Fergus Falls Area Chamber of Commerce
202 S. Court
Fergus Falls, MN 56537
Phone: (218)736-6951
Email Fergus Falls

Miscellany

The population of Fergus Falls was:
1990 - 12,362
2000 - 13,000