A Sidewalk in Grand Forks

I usually begin my runs with a light jog up the alley between Belmont Road and Reeves Drive in Grand Forks, North Dakota. I do this mostly because it’s convenient and I like the soft gravel of the alley during my warm up. I also do this because you can learn a good bit about a city by exploring its alleys.

One of my favorite features of the Near South Side in Grand Forks is a random stretch of sidewalk linking Reeves Drive to Belmont. It does not follow the route of a road, but it seems to have a right-of-way. In other words, its just a sidewalk.

The answer to this fun mystery is somewhat predictable, but still weird. 12 Avenue South is a strange street (or Fourth Avenue for you old-timers who have perhaps not fully accepted the renaming of the streets around 1910). Between Belmont and Chestnut, it formed the northern boundary of the block where the “Lutheran College” stood. This building, which I’ve blogged about before fronted Belmont and occupied the entire block between 12 Avenue S and 13th Avenue S between Belmont and Chestnut. This is where the 12th Avenue Market once stood which long time residents of this neighborhood remember (and which has given its name to the apartment building there). 12 Avenue S then staggers along a few more blocks to the west, offsetting one parcel north between Chestnut and Walnut and between Walnut and Cottonwood until it continues on a line as little more than an alley ending in the middle of the block between Cherry and Oak Street. Interestingly, it then continues as a sidewalk with a right of way until it ends on Oak (although this sidewalk doesn’t appear as a right of way on city parcel maps).

The Lutheran College was built in 1892 and stood on Belmont until 1935, but most of the homes in this part of town date to the 1920s. The 1916 Sanborn Map shows little development west of Belmont and south of 10th Avenue S (then called Elder St.). East of Belmont, 11th Avenue S runs as it does today between Belmont and Almonte. Prior to 1997 11th Avenue would have continued to Lanark. Even today, it ends at the flood wall. 12th Avenue S is a different story. In 1916, 12th Avenue S or Clark Road ran from Belmont to Reeves (which at the time had its proper name, Vernon Avenue).

The 1934 USGS map shows a gap between the houses on both Vernon/Reeves and Belmont and 12th avenue running to the north of the Lutheran College. We can perhaps attribute this to the “ghost” of 12th avenue between Belmont and Vernon/Reeves. 

Property records show that by 1921 four large lots occupied the route of the former 12th Avenue, but for some reason a right of way was included between the properties. Maybe some utilities continue to run along this right of way? Or maybe it speaks to a time when residents valued the ability to walk between long blocks or it served to provide access to the Lutheran College on Belmont?

Today all that remains of Clark is the sidewalk and the right of way between four houses fronting onto Belmont and Reeves.