Description

The Broadway district is the heart of Fargo and contains a little bit of everything. The local newspaper, the federal building, Amtrak station, restaurants, nightclubs, churches, art galleries, police station, hospital, and more can be found here.

The street of Broadway, which gives the district its name is constantly flowing with traffic. Starting at the south end of the district at Island Park, it heads north through a commercial zone that gives way to a middle-class residential area. Broadway has a regular police presence and is well-lit at night. The same, however, cannot be said for the dark alleys lurking behind the businesses and homes.

People

The majority of the people found in this district come from outside the district. During the day they come to spend their money in the upscale downtown boutiques and restaurants and at night they come for the bars and night clubs.

People from all walks of life can be found here at all hours of the day, from upper class professionals, to blue-collar bar flies, to the downtrodden homeless looking for some spare change or a spare smoke.

Description

The Concordia district gets its name from Concordia University, a Lutheran College and one of three institutions of higher learning in the area, along with Minnesota State University and Northwest Technical College make this district a bastion of education in the Red River Valley.

The Concordia district is the only truly vibrant area in Moorhead and this is due to the large young population that lives in the many small houses and apartments in the area that cater to the university population.

Concordia has not yet been struck by the decay creeping down from North Moorhead and East 10, how long it can stave this off is dependent on the success of its universities.

People

The vast majority of people in this part of town are college students and faculty. The middle-class community which surrounds the campuses are generally liberal in out look and tend to turn a blind way to some of the usual excesses that occur within a college town.

Description

Dilworth is a small community on the east end of Moorhead and slowly being engulfed by its neighbor. Dilworth maintains a small town feel with small stores along the main strip that leads through town and modest Middle American homes and small apartment complexes.

People

The majority of the people in Dilworth are low to middle class blue-collar workers in dead end jobs and a handful of families that moved here years ago trying to get away from the increased violence and crime of the city, only to find that it is beginning to follow them here.

Description

Eagle Run is one of the newer communities in the area and is technically part of West Fargo but is desperately trying to sever its ties to that community. This community has its own police and fire department along with a community ‘watch’ program to keep them legitimate and free from the corruption of West Fargo.

This area consists mostly of newer houses and apartment buildings, some strip malls and a grocery store all built within the past five years. Many of the housing developments are quite spread out and while the area is quite large, its population is relatively small when compared to the rest of the area.

People

Many of the people here were residents of what has become Moscow West, having fled the increased violence, crime, and corruption and looking for a better way of life for them and their children.

The people of this district maintain community watch programs and are active participants in the schools, and often host fund raisers to keep their police and fire departments fully manned an equipped.

This area most closely identifies with a small town, middle-American way of life. The people are hard working and care about their community. They are law abiding, conservative and active. The streets and yards are kept clean and free of debris and they know their neighbors.

Description

To say that East 10 is in decline would imply that it was ever on the rise, sadly it wasn’t. This area is and has always been given over to low scale houses and low rent apartments.

The buildings have chipped and faded facades, the trash dumpsters are over flowing and garbage litters the streets and yards. Graffiti covers the area like a brightly colored blanket. Police presence is nearly non-existent and crime is high.

People

The predominant demographic in East 10 is Hispanic. Some are legal immigrants, others are here on green cards as migrant workers and most are illegal. The Mexican gang ‘Lobo Locos’ is the governing force in the neighborhood and far too many young people from this neighborhood drop out of school and turn to a life of crime.

Description

Hawthorne is a quiet middle class community in the heart of the Fargo/Moorhead area and contains a little bit of everything. The bulk of commerce is found along University Avenue with residential developments to either side.

The two dominating features of this district are the Cass County Courthouse and MeritCare Hospital’s south campus. Lindenwood Park, the largest park in the area and very popular in the spring and summer is found along the river.

People

The residents of Hawthorne are generally law abiding and good-natured. Hawthorne is a quiet community the only exception being the numerous bars and pubs along University Avenue, which is the heart of the area’s nightlife.

Description

The Hector district encompasses the Hector International Airport, the local Air National Guard base and the Fargo Jet Center. Beyond these three structures there is very little in the area beyond a very small residential area along its northern border.

The airport is served by a handful of carriers and is labeled as international only because it provides direct connections to Canada. While small, security here is tight, due to the requirements of homeland security as well as several criminal actions in the recent past.

People

Most of the people in this district work at one of the airports, are going to the airport, or arriving in Fargo from the airport. The handful of families that live in the area generally works in other parts of the city.

Description

If Moscow West is the violent underbelly of the area then the West Fargo Strip is its crowing achievement. This is the part of town that no one wants to be in, especially the people that live here. The apartments are small, overcrowded and barely functional as domiciles. The houses are in an equally poor state of repair and most are rusty mobile homes with over grown, weed-infested yards. The few businesses that remain are found along Main Avenue and consist mostly of gas stations, pawn shops, and check cashing. All are little more than areas for the local prostitutes and drug dealers to ply their trade under the watchful eyes of the Russian Mob.

People

This area used to be populated primarily by people of Jamaican descent and the Brookwood Trailer court is known in many street circles as ‘the island’. A Jamaican Posse that controlled the drug ruled the area and prostitution trades in the area and was often at odds with the Russian Mob.

That was then, and this is now, and now the Jamaican’s have all but left. A massive gang war erupted between the Russians and the Jamaican’s leaving the area a blood shambles. The Jamaican’s were forced out and now the Russians are trying to establish control over the area.

The people here are a hard, bitter lot. Many have lost family and friends to the struggles that have taken place and many expect to face more hard times in the future as rumor holds that the Italian Mafia has also set its sites on this part of town.

Once again the few residents that remain are stuck between two warring factions and looking to survive and in the bloody streets of the West Fargo strip survival means joining up with the winning side. The people are looking for protection and their loyalty can be bought and sold for even the hint of security.

Description

What was once the thriving community of West Fargo has turned into a den of vice and violence and is merely a shadow of its former self. Many buildings, both businesses and residences now stand empty and abandoned. Working street lights are few and far between and the schools are nearly empty husks.

Sheyenne street and main avenue hold the bulk of the businesses that still remain in the area and they are often interspersed with abandoned buildings, some given over to criminal enterprises – whore houses and crack dens or just simply squats for the homeless.

A thick pall of smoke and the stench of death and rot from the Stacks creates a palpable aura of decay and hopelessness over the area.

People

The dominant ethnicity of West Fargo is white Russian immigrants that started arriving two decades ago and again shortly after the Berlin Wall came down. While many of the new arrivals were hard working and industrious and looking to create a better home for their families, they were quickly dominated and beaten down by elements of the Russian Mob who quickly established a stranglehold over the area.

The city government is a joke and the police force is all but non-existent. What few officers that do patrol are little more than lackeys to the Russian Mob. The people here know enough to mind their own business and have little trust, faith, or love in outsiders. Safety and employment take precedence over such trivialities as law and order. They pay their ‘taxes’ and keep their eyes down.

Description

The ever present rumble of the railway lines and the thunderous roar of jets passing over head dislodge dust, rust, and cracked paint from the lower class homes of this area that seem to always be on the verge of being condemned.

Once an area of developing promise in the 1950’s this area was struck by a tornado that swept away the homes and lives of those that dwelled here. Many of the survivors never returned and less than scrupulous people that were never overly concerned with building codes further developed the area.

Today one in ten homes are derelict or overtaken by squatters for temporary squatters that come to the area smuggling themselves on the trains or drug dens with crystal meth and crack being the prime drug of choice.

People

Many of the people in this are unemployed and of the few that work it is mainly in menial blue-collar work. Drug use, alcoholism and domestic violence are common in this district. The citizens are hard as coffin nails and take no shit from anyone. Might makes right and the mightiest are the burly men on the choppers, clad in leather with the bright red swastika stitched on the back below the letters ‘A.V.’