Hidden History of Fargo by Danielle Teigen

Author:Danielle Teigen [Teigen, Danielle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Photography, Subjects & Themes, Regional, Travel, United States, Midwest, West North Central (IA; KS; MN; MO; ND; NE; SD), History, State & Local, Midwest (IA; IL; IN; KS; MI; MN; MO; ND; NE; OH; SD; WI)
ISBN: 9781439662090
Google: Oy8vDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2017-08-28T15:58:03+00:00

BECOMING A BUSINESSWOMAN

Soon after, Matilda ventured into dressmaking, opening a shop that proved so successful she hired a “cutter and fitter from New York and two seamstresses.”215 She began by sewing clothes for her own family and then branched out to more people, like her husband’s cousin, Samuel, who wore her finely tailored clothes for ten years. Thanks to Matilda’s business, the small city of three thousand offered women modern clothes seen in Paris and New York City. The wives of pioneer settlers wanted finery, and Matilda met their demand. “The shop was successful from the moment it started. There was no ready-to-wear industry in those days. The wives of the settlers had endured poverty and privation for several years. As soon as their husbands made a little money their thoughts turned to clothes.”216

Matilda added millinery to her dressmaking shop, importing materials and trim from New York. She quickly outgrew her small space, rented the store to a jeweler and set up in a new, larger store. Matilda’s store boomed, so much so that in 1877 when her husband returned from the Black Hills, he let her keep the shop open. Good thing, too, because he’d returned with very little fortune, save for a couple of ponies his sons kept as pets.

So Matilda ran her shop, and Charles ran his flour mill and brickyard and farmed land. He invested heavily in various properties in Fargo, and Matilda “advised her husband’s cousin, S.G. Roberts, to buy the lots that he did and they became downtown Fargo.”217 They had hired a Swedish nanny to watch their three boys.

During down years in farming, Matilda’s shop helped tide the family over when income was reduced. (Charles tried to provide for his family but got involved in a few risky business ventures. His mill burned down twice, though he rebuilt it. He also invested in Fargo’s failed streetcar system, as well as the Sanborn, Cooperstown and Turtle Mountain Railroad.) Matilda eventually sold her dressmaking shop but took to selling sewing machines instead.

During the winter of 1881, Matilda took her three small sons to California to escape the Dakota winter. Charles joined them for a time, and soon trips to the West Coast became regular for the Roberts family.218

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