He told Chapin he expected to be paid the next morning for wheat he brought into town, but he was tired and hungry.

For example, the newspaper told the story of “a weary, foreign farm hand,” who came into town late one night and came into the hotel. Early settlers told the newspaper once he was your friend, he was your friend for life.Īnd he was the first to reach out to people in need. He is credited with financing the first church building in town, but as The Daily Argus wrote, “he has never been accused of crossing its threshold since.” Even though he didn’t attend church, Chapin appeared to live the golden rule. He was a blunt talker with a heart of goldĮven Chapin’s most ardent supporters say he was a bit of a diamond in the rough, a blunt talker who said it like it was and wasn’t afraid to ruffle feathers, particularly among some of Fargo’s most pious citizens. The Continental became known for its elegant artwork, exotic flowers and large, airy rooms. Two years later, in 1873, Chapin moved to Fargo to take over the Headquarters Hotel, which was the epicenter of the railroad business in town, serving the thousands of people - settlers, speculators and salesmen - moving to the frontier for new possibilities.īy 1880, he opened his own hotel, The Continental, at 303 Broadway, just down the block from the Jasper Hotel between Sammy’s Pizza and The Toasted Frog, where a bridal shop is now. “We’ve infused Jasper Hotel with that same spirit, and hopefully created a meeting place to bring a fresh energy along with traditions to downtown Fargo,' Tweten says. Tanner Tweten, Jasper Hotel's director of lifestyle, says they took note of Chapin’s welcoming philosophy. He was starting to develop a reputation for being a master of making everyone feel comfortable. He built an impressive dining room in the tent hotel, where he’d hold sumptuous dinner parties.

This would be about the middle of the now empty Herberger’s Department Store in the Moorhead Center Mall. Red River Valley Heritage Society, Moorhead: 1982, Chapin’s built his tent hotel in fall 1871 on the southwest corner of 4th St and 1st Ave N in Moorhead. He envisioned great prosperity and growth in Fargo, even before it was a city or North Dakota was a state.Īccording to Roy Johnson’s Red River Valley, Clarence Glasrud, ed. Cushing, the city editor of The Fargo Republican and The Fargo Argus, Chapin bought land near Second Avenue and divided it up into smaller lots of land. An early Fargo newspaper called him “the original Fargo boomer.” According to W.F.

He saw the expansion of the Northern Pacific railroad here and the potential for the future. He was a 'boomer' and a 'booster'Ĭhapin was born in New York, but made his way to the Red River Valley in 1871 and never looked back. In fact, Jasper Chapin has been called the “Father of Fargo.” Here are five things you should know about him. It turns out the hotel is named for a fascinating, influential character from Fargo’s past. Why is the hotel named Jasper Hotel? Who or what was Jasper? The Jasper Hotel plans to celebrate the “heritage and spirit” of the old Fargo with historic nods everywhere you turn - a ballroom named for a hotel that came before and a boardroom for the railroad that never went away.Įven the restaurant, Rosewild, promises a celebration of the Dakota Prairie with a little of the Nordic flavor the first settlers here would have loved.īut there is one thing many people who have been following the construction of this hotel in the RDO Building might not know. FARGO - With just days remaining before the opening of downtown Fargo’s newest hotel, we’ve learned a few things.

Jasper hotel in downtown fargo