Fargo's First House

Fargo's first house was built by Henry Moore and George Mann in 1869, when Fargo was a tent city in Dakota's Territory. Initially the house was close to the river channel, in today's Island Park, but because of the annual floods, it was moved. It moved yet again when the land office began accepting homestead claims.

In 1872 the house served as the Mann-Moore Hotel and in 1875 it served as a jail. The city paid $15 per month for rent while a new jail was being built. The loft was used as the jail while the main floor was used to house the offices for the mayor and the sheriff.

Henry Hector purchased and refurbished the house in 1892. He and his family lived in the house until his death in the 1940's. Some of the changes they made were an addition and covering the original logs in siding. The house then switched hands multiple times before finally being moved to Bonanzaville in 1953.