Fargo City Forestry Department

About forestry service, 56525, Comstock, MN, US, North Dakota

Fargo is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Dakota. The population was 125,990 at the 2020 census and estimated at 136,285 in 2024. Fargo, along with its twin city of Moorhead, Minnesota, form the core of the Fargo–Moorhead metropolitan area, which had a population of 248,591 in 2020. It is the county seat of Cass County. Fargo was founded in 1871 on the Red River of the North floodplain. It is a cultural, retail, health care, educational, and industrial center for southeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. North Dakota State University is located in the city. == History == === Early history === Historically part of Sioux (Dakota) territory, the area that is present-day Fargo was an early stopping point for steamboats traversing the Red River during the 1870s and 1880s. The city was originally named "Centralia", but was later renamed "Fargo" after Northern Pacific Railway director and Wells Fargo Express Company founder William Fargo (1818–1881). During the initial settlement of Fargo, there developed two cities: one (unofficially) called "Fargo on the Prairie" and the other "Fargo in the Timber".