Grand Forks County Fairgrounds WPA Structures is a collection of five structures within the Grand Forks County Fairgrounds in

Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

, that were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2009. The structures are the fairgrounds entrance gate, ticket kiosk, administration building, and cairns, all built from stone, as well as the fairgrounds grandstand. They are located on the grounds of the Grand Forks State Fair Grounds and are associated with the River Cities Speedway. "The five remaining structures have been recognized as historically significant, examples of the importance of county and state fairs to local culture and social history." The structures were built between 1936 and 1939 by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA). U.S. President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

attended the 1937 dedication ceremony for the Grand Forks County Fairgrounds

grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...

, which was designed by Grand Forks architect Theodore B. Wells and was considered to be innovative in its design. Steve C. Martens, an architect and

North Dakota State University North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...

professor, wrote the NRHP nomination. He commented extensively at a public hearing describing the importance of the structures. According to Martens, the project was the largest WPA project in the state. In 2009 the listed structures included three

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

, one

contributing structure In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

, and one

contributing object In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

. The nominated listing covers an area of . The listing is described as including

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

and

WPA Rustic WPA Rustic architecture is an architectural style from the era of the U.S. New Deal Works Project Administration. The WPA provided funding for architects to create a variety of buildings, including amphitheaters and lodges. WPA architecture is akin ...

Fieldstone architecture.

References

Works Progress Administration in North Dakota Buildings and structures completed in 1936 Buildings and structures completed in 1939 Park buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in North Dakota 1930s architecture in the United States Art Deco architecture in North Dakota WPA Rustic architecture National Register of Historic Places in Grand Forks, North Dakota Fairgrounds in the United States {{NorthDakota-NRHP-stub

See also

References