Back Then with Tracy Briggs

As one local archivist retires, I take a look at just how important historians are to our community. See more from Tracy Briggs on our website: https://www.inforum.com/tracy-briggs

Area couples detail the ways they met their significant others, from Captain America to MTV to a squirt gun. See more from Tracy Briggs on our website: https://www.inforum.com/tracy-briggs

Opponents couldn't always clobber "The Greatest" of all time, but 55 years ago, a Fargo snowbank did.  See this and the rest of Tracy Briggs' Back Then stories on our website: https://www.inforum.com/tracy-briggs

Columnist Tracy Briggs trades laborious dishes to making easy inspired-by-her-sweet-tooth desserts for gatherings. Lazy? You decide. See more from Tracy Briggs here: https://www.inforum.com/tracy-briggs

Tom Netherton starred in the hit television show in the '70s, became a popular Christian performer in the '80s, and made national headlines with Kathie Lee Gifford in the '90s. Visit our website to see photos and read more stories from Tracy Briggs: https://www.inforum.com/tracy-briggs

After Tracy Briggs' column on the popular hamburger joint that operated in Fargo from 1961 to 1979, her inbox was flooded with comments and stories, including priceless ones from "Prince Leo." Read Tracy's original column, along with the rest of her work, at https://www.inforum.com/tracy-briggs

Even with 15 cent burgers and 12 cent fries, Fargo fast food pioneer King Leo's raked in the cash in the '60s and '70s thanks to a loyal fanbase and a fun-loving crew.

News readers might just have been craving some good news. Perhaps that's why Forum journalist Cal Olson grabbed his photo gear and set out to snap a few pics that would undoubtedly put a smile on people's faces. He found himself at the Presentation Sisters Convent at 1310 Broadway in Fargo to take a few shots of the sisters on ice. According to Olson's story on Jan. 22, 1956, "each afternoon for t...

The story of how Bob Blake became a world-renowned builder of race cars for Jaguar while holding onto his Midwestern personality.

Around this time every year, my hospital administrator dad would put away his suit and tie and put on the Santa gear, with very mixed results.

Fire tore through the Earle Hotel on Dec. 13, 1951, killing three, making news around the world, and turning a one-armed man into a hero.

The partnership was formed nearly 75 years ago so the women could recreate a taste of the old country. What they did changed baking forever.

We asked your help in finding some of the "Famous Valley City Twins of 1935" and you delivered.

As many of you head to the Christmas tree lot to pick out that perfect pine, what would you think if one of America's favorite TV dads, Ward Cleaver, sold it to you? Yes. That Ward Cleaver, as in June's husband and Wally and Beaver's dad. Sounds likes a fever dream (like Greg Brady taking your order at Starbucks or Gidget soaping up your tires at the car wash). But Ward Cleaver helping you with yo...

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy was a cataclysmic moment for American journalists, and the reporters and editors of the Fargo Forum, as it was known in 1963, were no different. In a special episode of Back Then, Tracy Briggs reads an account of the moment the assassination made its way into the pages of the Forum, along with the chaotic hours and days that followed with the arrest o...

North Dakota high schools looking to replace outdated school nicknames are in luck. Thanks to science, the following mascots are now as representative of our state as bison, buffaloes, roughriders or vikings.  How do these sound to you? The Fighting Jǫrmungandrs? The Walhallaensis Warriors? The Mighty Mosasaurs? Okay, maybe they need a little work.  But the fact is any of those names would work af...

Readers solve the mystery identity of the Fargo toddler who traveled via U.S. Mail. It turns out that might have been one of the least interesting things about him.

This photo was found tucked in a book at the Fargo Public Library. But who are these people?

Some witnesses claimed they saw politicians looking down from a 'mystery airship' while others said they were Martians coming to buy ladies' clothes. What exactly was going on in Barnesville?

In 1913, when the U.S. Postal Service introduced parcel post service, customers took advantage by shipping their children.

Oct. 14, 1943, became known as 'Black Thursday' with devastating losses at the hands of the Nazis. Arthur Linrud of Velva, North Dakota, survived. Today his family seeks to remember those who didn't.

Simon Wenzel Melzer was one of a kind, a seemingly brilliant physician who gave all to his patients, but saved a few shots for the fowl.

What finally got me to take that long-awaited "someday" trip, haggis and all. 

These days if you take a stroll down Broadway just south of Northern Pacific Avenue toward the railroad tracks, you'll pass banks, restaurants, and a place to get your dog groomed.  But 80 years ago you could see and maybe even touch evidence of the enemy. On Sept. 21, 1943, at the height of World War II, a Japanese submarine was parked on the street just south of where the Old Broadway restaurant...