Leland Watkins arrived in Fargo on this day in 1893. His journey hadn’t been easy. For his first paychecks, Watkins picked worms. That was in Columbia, Missouri, where his uncle paid him 50 cents a day to get rid of the worms that were eating his tobacco field. It’s not surprising that with the money he made, Watkins bought himself a travel trunk.

He also bought a horse for the bargain price of five dollars. The only problem was that it had mange. But, Watkins nursed the horse back to health and sold him for $110. With his profits, he made a down payment on a printing company and spent the next eight years running the North Missouri Miner. He used the profits to put himself through college.

Next stop, Fargo. Why Fargo? We’re not sure, but he did bring his travel trunk.

With a partner, Watkins borrowed $500 to buy some furniture and open his own school, the Northwestern College of Commerce. Some students signed up, some tuition money came in, and then the partner went missing – along with about $500. Then, contrary to what his partner had told him, Watkins learned that his classroom furniture wasn’t paid for. To his great credit, Watkins decided to keep going and made arrangements to make monthly payments. He changed the name to Northwestern School of Commerce, then to Dakota Business College, all in the first year.

Those were lean times, and Watkins lived on bread and beans, and slept at the school. That first year, there were five students and one teacher -- Watkins. He also served as janitor and board of directors. At night, he kept books for the Daily Argus to earn enough money to pay for his room and board.

In what would become known as the “Watkins Method,” students learned by doing business as it was done in the real world. The students’ first day of classes was like the first day at a job. Students were given $2000 in Watkins Dough (the schools own currency) and a blank set of books. From there, they were sent downstairs to the “bank” to set up their own businesses and learn how to do business with six wholesale houses, an insurance office, and another business. They learned how to borrow and loan money, how to take on partners, how to work with mortgages and much much more.

Watkin’s gamble paid off, and by 1922, the College had 750 students and 13 teachers located in a bigger building with a brand new addition.

In 1968, one of the College’s students was Watkin’s great-granddaughter, Liz Watkins Barner, who later wrote, “(I) was applying for a job... in Reno, Nevada back in 1979. The woman interviewing me, look(ed) at my application, smiled and asked me how I had enjoyed my time at (Dakota Business College). Her father had been a student, and she had recognized my penmanship! ...I have heard Presidents of Banks speak that they would not be where they were if were not for the sound principles of business they had learned at the Dakota Business College.”

And to think it all started with tobacco worms...

(To learn more: http://www.watkins.org.au/dbc/flwatkins.shtml)

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