Wikipedia:Today's featured article/June 15, 2010

Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Grand Forks County. Originally called Les Grandes Fourches by French fur traders, the city was founded on June 15, 1870, by steamboat captain Alexander Griggs and incorporated on February 22, 1881. Grand Forks is located on the western banks of the Red River of the North across from where the river meets the Red Lake River, in an extremely flat region known as the Red River Valley; the city is prone to flooding and was struck by the devastating Red River Flood of 1997. In July 2008, its population was estimated at 51,313, and it had an estimated metropolitan population of 97,190. Grand Forks, along with its twin city of East Grand Forks, Minnesota, forms the center of the Grand Forks, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is often called Greater Grand Forks or The Grand Cities. Historically dependent on local agriculture, the city's economy now encompasses higher education including the University of North Dakota, defense including Grand Forks Air Force Base, health care, manufacturing, food processing, and scientific research. (more...)

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