Moorhead, Minnesota, is at a crossroads: a natural crossing point of the Red River of the North, a place where Minnesota and the Dakotas meet. Today, that's made us a transportation and business hub. But in the old days, it was a different-and wilder!-story.

Frontier Settlement...

Moorhead, Minnesota, is at a crossroads: a natural crossing point of the Red River of the North, a place where Minnesota and the Dakotas meet. Today, that's made us a transportation and business hub. But in the old days, it was a different-and wilder!-story.

Frontier Settlement
Moorhead was settled in the 1870s at a natural crossing of the Red River of the North. For many years, this lively frontier town served as a transfer point for goods and passengers between the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and Winnipeg, Manitoba. Hudson Bay Company goods were hauled by oxcart from St. Cloud, Minnesota, to Moorhead, then reloaded onto riverboats for the journey north on the Red. It was a rough-and-ready time-and we were a rough-and-tumble town!

The New City
Founded on September 22, 1871, our city was named for William G. Moorhead, a director of the Northern Pacific Railway. Moorhead was officially incorporated in 1881-and later that same decade added electric, water, sewer, fire and police services. That's also when Moorhead developed a reputation as 'Sin City,' with more than 100 bars at a time when neighboring Fargo, N.D., did not allow the sale of alcohol.

Transcontinental Crossing
Today, Moorhead is still considered a transcontinental crossing. Interstates 94 and 29 intersect just west of the city limits. While distribution and transfer industries remain a vital part of our business environment, education and service industries have played an increasingly important role. Concordia College and Minnesota State University Moorhead have helped build our strong reputation for education and culture.

Moorhead's population is now 32,177. More than 140,000 people live in the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area.

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