John Eldridge Haggart, Fargo’s first Town Marshal, was born on this date in 1846. Haggart was born in St. Lawrence County, New York, to John and Mabel Haggart. He fought as a Union soldier in the Civil War and lived in Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming before arriving in Fargo in 1871. He settled a few miles southwest of Fargo, where he made one of the first land claims in the area. This area became known as the Haggart stop on the railway, after him, but was later changed to West Fargo. Haggart farmed extensively, and grew to become one of the largest landowners in the state, at one time owning up to 1,960 acres. Haggart was elected as Cass County’s first sheriff in 1874, a position that he filled for the next twelve years. When Fargo became a city in 1875, Haggart was elected to be the city’s first Town Marshal. In 1881, this title was changed to “Chief of Police.”

When Haggart was elected, the city of Fargo had a population of 600 residents, but no jail, officers, or equipment for a police department. A makeshift jail was rented until a wooden plank jail could be erected in 1876. The city spent $197.00 on its first jail, and an extra $8.00 on its first ball and chain. In the early days, the city’s officers were also responsible for lighting the city’s street lamps, and the Chief of Police was in charge of opening and closing the Red River bridges. In 1882, the department was issued their first uniforms. Bicycles were issued to the officers in 1898, and the first squad cars appeared in 1915.

Haggart’s exploits, however, were not restricted to the Fargo Police Department: he was elected to be the chief of the city’s fire companies in 1880, and when North Dakota became a state in 1889, Haggart was elected to the first state senate. Senator Haggart’s Bill #1 was the first bill introduced into the state legislature and the first to become a law in North Dakota. The bill secured state funds for the creation of the North Dakota Agricultural College, now better-known as NDSU. This was not the end of Haggart’s support for the state college; he later obtained the land on which the college stands. Haggart served as the United States Deputy Marshal for North Dakota from 1890 to 1898, and resigned from the state senate in that year to become North Dakota’s U.S. Marshal.

Sources:
Crawford, Lewis Ferandus. History of North Dakota, Vol. II. 1931, The American Historical Society, Chicago.
http://www.ci.fargo.nd.us/Police/NewWebSite/AboutUs/historyfpd.
http://www.fargo-history.com/people/haggart
http://www.co.cass.nd.us/departments/sheriff/past

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