The site of what is now Casselton was first settled in 1873 by Mike Smith, an employee of Northern Pacific Railroad. He was to grow cottonwood and willow trees to serve as windbreaks, as well as replacement ties for railroad use. He lived in a furnished boxcar, sodded on the top and sides, and located south of the tracks. The venture was a virtual failure due to the seedlings dying in transit and the soil not being properly conditioned prior to planting. Fortunately, the failure of the nursery was not an indication of the future of Casselton.

^{_{Looking north from First Street and Sixth Avenue in 1882.}}

Casselton was originally named Goose Creek, a translation of Aux Ontardes, the name given to a nearby creek by early French explorers. Railroad officials preferred the name Swan Creek, and that name was used until early 1876 when the railroad established a station called Casstown after George Cass, president of the Northern Pacific. The name was finally changed to Casselton on August 8, 1876, when a post office was established.

_{^{Early Casselton from the south.}}

Mike Smith was joined by Emil Priewe, a German immigrant, and his wife in 1874 and on March 28, 1875, their son, Harry, was born in a sod shanty; the first child born in Casselton. By 1875, the population was five. Later that year ten more people came to Casselton and by 1880 the official census was 376.

The first business, a combination lumberyard-elevator, was built in 1876 by N. K. Hubbard and E . S. Tyler. A school was organized in 1878 and the first annual meeting in 1879 showed two school aged children living in town and seven or eight more living on nearby farms.

_{^{P. S. Houghton Drug and Hunter and Riddell Dry Goods in 1885 were among the first of many businesses.}}

 
_{^{The First National Bank about 1884.}}

The early impact of farming was felt heavily by Casselton. While Mike Smith was establishing the nursery in Swan Creek, Northern Pacific stock dropped drastically, and the railroad announced it would accept bonds at par value for railroad land. Cass and Peter Cheney, a Northern Pacific director, traded a portion of their stock for 10,000 acres near Casselton for the equivalent of about fifty cents an acre. They decided to develop this land into one large farm instead of breaking it up into smaller tracts. They hired Oliver Dalrymple, an experienced farm manager from southern Minnesota, to run their operation.

Dalrymple built the first frame structure between Fargo and Bismarck in 1875 east of Casselton. Actual farming operations began in 1876 when 1,280 acres of wheat were planted and another 3,200 acres were broken. The overall venture proved successful and along with its success came proof of the tremendous agricultural potential the land afforded. Prior to the Cass-Cheney "Bonanza" farm many thought the prairie was not suitable for agriculture, but with high yields a proven reality, the way was paved for farming to become a dominant part of prairie life.

_{^{Shocked wheat in 1887}}

In order to attract people to the prairie the railroad began an extensive publicity program both in America and Europe. Casselton did its own campaigning to attract people to the area. For example, in 1885 the Dakota Blizzard, one of Casselton's two newspapers during the 1880s, ran an article stating "Casselton Township raises more wheat than any territory of equal size in the world ... " Another article claimed Casselton "ranks foremost in culture and intelligence."

_{^{The corner of Front Street and Langer Avenue about 1900. The Opera House, on the second floor of the Big Store, was considered the finest between Minneapolis and Spokane.}}

With the public attention the area received, it's little wonder that Casselton experienced rapid growth through the late 1880s. In April 1885 the population was 724 and by August it had mushroomed to 1,365.

^{_{Front Street looking west from the Cass County State Bank about 1900. The building to the left is N. K. Hubbard Feed, later H. M. Washburn Feed. The building burned in 1924.}}

Today, over one hundred and fifty years after Mike Smith spent the winter in Swan Creek in a refurbished boxcar, Casselton remains a thriving community with over 2,500 residents. Agriculture continues to drive the development of the region, and Casselton's innovation and technological advancement in that area will shape what the community will look like over the next one hundred and fifty years. 

Images and content provided by the North Dakota State University Archives Library.