HISTORY

Before James J. Hill bought the Great Northern Railway in 1879 and accepted the task of completing the line from Crookston to the Canadian border, there already was a settler located on the area of the Middle River where Argyle is today. The man was a French Canadian named Gervais, and that's not surprising since the French Canadians had been coming to the Red River Valley since the beginning of the 1800s. Gervais was cunning, and he had staked a claim right in the path of the railway line and called his community Louisa in honor of the French king. However, the James J. Hill gang outsmarted Gervais and located their railroad town just south of the Gervais property and subsequently south of the river and named the town Argyle. Argyle was incorporated in 1883. Because it is located all to one side of the river, it was relatively easy to dike off several years ago, so the community is safely protected from any threat of flooding. When the dike was built in 1988, the last of the "French town" located on the river was bought out with federal program dollars and the last vestiges of Gervais town disappeared. The early settlement included a large number of French Canadians. A school and hospital was started in Argyle by the Sister of St. Joseph, who came from France. The first general store was started by a Verbonceur, who arrived by train from St. Paul, Minn. Other settlers included immigrants from England, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Scotland, and Germany. Olson and Holen started a department store, which was popular for a radius of many miles during the early part of the century. The early townspeople and businessmen were always anxious to make Argyle an attractive community to the region Today the community still boasts of several businesses, which draw customers from the regional area. The ads in this newsprint reveal several businesses, which depend on the region to support a healthy commerce. At the same time, the strategic location of Argyle makes it a great place to raise a family and commute to one of the larger regional communities located within 45 minutes of Argyle.

ARGYLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The Argyle Historical Society had a good year in 2008.  We made improvements to some of the displays inside and improvements to the outside steps.  The Argyle Historical Society also had an influx of some new active members.

We also have been receiving family histories and pictures to add to our Genealogical Library.  We hope to keep adding to this library and make this an important part of our future building.

We have $82,000.00 in our building fund now.  This is due to a generous donation from an anonymous donor.  We also have received donations from numerous other people who answered our letter campaigns or visited us on our annual Meet Your Neighbor Day celebrations.

We had tons of people who stopped and visited the Argyle Depot Museum during the 2008, 125th celebration.  We would like to thank everyone for making last year's celebration a great success.

We will hopefully start on our new building at the Argyle Depot Museum this spring.  We hope you will continue to support the Argyle Depot Museum and the Argyle Historical Society.  The Argyle Historical Society thanks you all.

Remember, if you have family histories, family pictures, or pictures of Argyle, please donate a copy to the Argyle Depot Museum.

Board Members:
Charles O. LaBine, President
P.J. Schiller, Vice President
Charles O. LaBine, Secretary
Rosemary Schiller, Treasurer
Janet LaBine, Director

back to City Services