User:Magnolia677/sandbox

History
West Fargo began as a whistle stop called "Sheyenne Crossing" on the Northern Pacific Railway, named for the nearby Sheyenne River.

A post office operated from 1874 to 1885.

The settlement was renamed "Haggartville", and then "Haggart", after the owner of the land, John E. Haggart, a businessman who served as postmaster, U.S. marshall, and first sheriff of Cass County. Settlers began arriving in the area, and in 1876 the first school was built, School District No. 6.

Equity Co-op Packing Company was formed by a group of farmer, and the Equity Packing Plant&mdash;a meat processing plant&mdash;was erected in the settlement in 1919. Twenty-four homes were built, as well as a hotel, restaurant, and general store. The Equity company fell into bankruptcy in 1922, and was sold to Armour and Company in 1925, when the settlement's name was changed to "Village of West Fargo". The settlement was a major agricultural processor during the 1930s, and most of the residents were meat packinghouse workers; teams at West Fargo High School continue to be called the "packers". The plant utilized an assembly line to process meat, and its motto stated it used "every part of the animal except the squeal." The plant also produced fertilizer, adhesives, and soap. The meat packing era ended in West Fargo when the Armour plant closed in 1960.

In 1989, the cities of West Fargo and Riverside merged.