Located right on the Minnesota and North Dakota borer, Moorhead, Minnesota is a natural crossing point of the Red River. It was a main transfer point between Minneapolis and Saint Paul Minnesota and Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada. Hundreds of years ago goods were hauled by oxcart from Saint Cloud, Minnesota to Moorhead where the loads were loaded on riverboats to make their way north along the Red River. In the 1870s, Moorhead was a frontier settlement. Named for the director of the Northern Pacific Railway, the town was incorporated in 1881. Since neighboring Fargo, North Dakota was dry, Moorhead had more than 100 bars, earning the nickname of the time: Sin City. With 21mm of rain per year and 46 inches of snow, there are plenty of sunny days. The average high for Moorhead is 52 degrees Fahrenheit and the average low is 32 degrees. The highest recorded temperature is 106 degrees while the lowest low is a bone chilling minus 39 degrees. Moorhead, in fact, has the same average amount of sunshine as Raleigh, North Carolina during the year.
Moorhead is quite progressive, launching wireless internet for all its residents and only being the second city in the United States to do this. With Concordia University, Globe University and Minnesota School of Business, Rasmussen College, Minnesota State Community and Technical College and Minnesota State University Moorhead, Moorhead offers education for everyone. With a population of just 32,000 people, the influx of students helps the local economy and draws from nearby Fargo. The total area population is over 200,000 people. Moorhead lies on the bed of glacial Lake Agassiz which drained around 10,000 years ago. Now, with its proximity to the Red, the land is some of the flattest and richest farmland in the world. Grain and corn are two of the biggest crops.
While visiting, you will want to visit the Hjemkonst Center which has a recreation of a Viking Ship. There is also a full scale replica of the Hopperstad Stake Church in Vik, Norway. Almost half of the population has some nordic roots. Also, visit Comstock house which was built in 1882 and offers tours. The Prairie Home Cemetery is the inspiration for the name of Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion which airs on radio. If movies are your passion, another cultural reference might bring a smile to your face. Moorhead, Minnesota is the hometown of Bunny Lebowski, from The Big Lebowski. Also, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper, and Buddy Holly died in a plane crash while heading to perform a concert at the Moorhead Armory, bringing some notoriety to this beautiful prairie town.
Written by Lyndsey Morgan
