Another full day of North Dakota with a little bit of Minnesota border cities.

Let’s start with a couple of signs from Hillsboro, ND. This faded plastic sign at Tap That Bar. The Hamm’s letters would have been red originally and the bar’s name would have been in the white stripe at the bottom:

Reno’s Sports Bar & Grill is closed but this sign remains:

A bunch of signs in Fargo, ND. This one’s gotta be modern but fun:

Another modern (1983) but nice one. The restaurant is closed now so this sign might not be around much longer or it will be refaced:

A vintage sign in the window of Vinyl Giant Records:

I’m sad to report that this sign was adapted earlier this year. Here it was in 2011:

and now:

The groundbreaking at the YMCA in 1961 with the two original signs in the background:

Somehow, this sign below at the same location got approved and listed on the National Register of Historic Places earlier this year as an example of “early 1960s design” but it is clearly later than that and was not the original sign:

A modern sign installed in 2019:

From West Fargo — maybe 1963:

From Grand Forks — the motel’s been demolished but this sign is there, for now:

From Lisbon at a gas station convenience store:

From Portland:

From Mayville:

Moving on to some buildings – a couple from Fargo. The Bison Hotel was built in 1905 as the Viking Hotel. In 1940, it was remodeled as the Northern Hotel. Soon after, it became the Bison Hotel and this blade sign was installed (gone now). The ground floor looks like it had pink tile then:

I don’t know when this black vitrolite tile was installed and the windows were changed. The building now houses apartments and retail space on the ground floor:

The Ford truck assembly plant was built in 1915.

and today (retail, office space, and condos):

A former A&W drive-in in Grafton – now the Westside Drive-in. The give-away that it was an A&W is the triangulated pylon on the left:

A couple of theatres — this one in Larimore:

From East Grand Forks, MN — this one is brand new (from 2007):

Let’s close with a couple of statues. A classic fiberglass Clydesdale in Grand Forks from the 1960s or so. Installed earlier this year at the Rock Bottle Shop with a little Dalmatian pal:

This statue in Fargo from 1982 was restored in 2019. “Sodbuster, San Isidro” depicts a plowing farmer and a pair of oxen:

Back soon with a little more North Dakota and then moving on to South Dakota.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs