Forum editorial: Fargo depot brick retrieval reminds us of the power of community building

There they were, by the hundreds. Old. Young.

Middle-aged. Some alone. Some in small groups.



Friends. Families. All gazing downward.

Looking for their names. Looking for their parents’ names. A son’s name.

Recognizing other names as they searched. A walk down memory lane. Some came away with what they were looking for.

Many others left empty-handed. All came away with an appreciation for community and regret for what will be lost. Back in the early 1980s, about a decade after the city of Fargo acquired the Burlington Northern Railroad depot at 701 Main Ave.

, a community betterment group calling itself Friends of the Depot Plaza embarked on a unique fundraiser to transform the depot grounds into a park, complete with a fountain, benches, lights, flagpoles and trees. To raise the money – a whopping $300,000 – the group sold bricks for $20 each that allowed donors to have names stamped into their brick. More than 7,500 such bricks were sold, with an additional $177,000 coming from people who sponsored the fountain, benches, lights and flagpoles.

The name-inscribed bricks were laid into the plaza and walkways. Looking at the names, it’s a who’s who of local history. Brick by brick, these were the people, civic groups and businesses that collectively contributed to the betterment of their community at the time.

So it’s with some sadness that these bricks and the fountain are now being removed to make way for an uninspiring parking lot expansion on the west side of the downtown depot. When the Fargo Park District recently moved its headquarters from the historic downtown depot to the shiny new Fargo Parks Sports Center in far south Fargo, the depot and its grounds were sold to a private engineering company that has every right to develop the property as it sees fit. An upside of the sale is the depot, designed by Cass Gilbert and built in 1898, will presumably have a caring tenant and good future.

It’s also worth noting that the Fargo Park District made attempts to allow people to reclaim their bricks. Parks workers even helped people try to find their bricks and also helped remove them. The downside is that a unique piece of Fargo history is being torn up in the name of progress.

Times change, of course, and so does what we value. What’s new today will be old tomorrow. Have you ever looked at the dedication plaques attached to places you benefit from today? Think Fargo Civic Center, South Side Arena, Moorhead Sports Center, Fargodome, El Zagal Shrine, Lindenwood Park, VFW, Fargo Coliseum, Moorhead Armory, YMCA, West Fargo Veterans Memorial Arena, and the list goes on.

Every community has places like this. These were people who saw a need, dreamed and raised money to provide the community with a new amenity that improved the quality of life for some or all. Whether it was building a school, a church, a park or a community center, these folks dedicated their time, money and energy so the next generation would be better off.

We owe a debt of gratitude to these community builders, many of whom are no longer with us. It’s also a reminder that we, too, can accomplish big things by working together, building a better community brick by brick..