The F-M Curling Club has been a place to practice the sport of curling since 1938.
Blasterz are Texans, so what we know of curling is what we have seen on the Winter Olympics. We would have gone inside and showed out ignorance, but the club was closed when we went by (in July).
Their website has everything you need to know about learning to or participating in curling in Fargo. (
visit link)
"On September 13, 1938, a group of local business and professional men met to consider the possibility or organizing a curling club. Just over two months later on November 14, 1938, the Fargo Curling Club was formally organized - officers were elected, bylaws were adopted and authorization was given to purchase stones. Club members had previously arranged to rent space for one sheet of natural ice at the Fargo Arena, now the site of Island park Pool.
Records are few and memories dim but available information indicates the in 1940 the Club relocated to a site on Third Street North. Lot Four, Block Twelve in Keeney and Devitt's Additions to the City of Fargo. This building accommodated two sheets of natural ice. Following the 1940-41 season, curling activity in the Fargo-Moorhead Area probably was suspended for several years. In late 1947, the Club apparently resumed activity at the Third Street site, just west of the present Fargo City Hall. The Club remained at this location until 1959 when the area was acquired by the City of Fargo Urban Renewal Agency.
The Fargo Curling Club became the Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club (FMCC) in 1954. In 1956, the Club was incorporated under North Dakota law.
Club members who curled the Third street location may remember the sporadic nature of the sport due to our unpredictable North Dakota winters. W.J. Peters, the 1958 Annual Meeting: "The 1958 curling season was very spotty and disappointing due to the unusually warm weather. Our ice committee made ice three times and still we enjoyed only two weeks of good curling around the end of January Membership dropped alarmingly, probably due to uncertain weather and poor ice."
The first playdown to select a team to represent North Dakota in national competition was held at the Club in early 1957. The event was won by a Minot team. The FMCC was represented y a team composed of Jerry Ellingson, skip; Don Buland, Duane Buland and Harold Buland.
Intramural curling for NDSU students began in 1958. In subsequent years, Moorhead State University and Concordia College used FMCC facilities for similar programs.
In 1959, lease arrangement was negotiated with the Cass County Fair Association and a steel building was constructed just south of the intersections of 19th Avenue and Ninth Street North. Refrigeration equipment was purchased and space was available for two sheets of artificial ice. With the new facility, and particularly refrigeration equipment, members could plan the season's activities with confidence. The Club hosted its first invitational men's bonspiel in December 1960. Sixteen teams from North Dakota. Minnesota and Manitoba participated in a three-event bonspiel. The entry fee was $20 per team.
The new facility has its own problems with respect to curling ice. The brine pipes were laid on a sand base that ranged from a few inches to about one foot in thickness. The clay soils, typical of this area, were subject to considerable heaving due due to frost action during periods of freezing and thawing. Minor changes in elevation of the ground service during the winter often raised havoc with the smooth, level ice surface prepared in mid-November. At times during the season, luck was nearly as important as curling skill in deciding game winners.
In 1967 Club members entered into an agreement with the Fargo Park Board to build a four-sheet curling facility on land held by the Board. The building, located at the corner of 10th Street and 17th Avenue North, is the present home of the Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club. Numerous improvements have been made to this facility since the initial 1967-68 season. These included surfacing the parking area with asphalt, landscaping the grounds, finishing the club-room interior, installing heaters and humidity controls in the ice area, carpeting (twice!) the clubroom and viewing area, adding additional insulation to the ice area ceiling and the club interior, new lighting, adding elevated seats in the viewing area, and purchasing new stones.
Club bylaws were revised and updated in 1977, and non-profit tax status was granted by the Internal Revenue Service the same year.
The Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club is pleased to offer exciting, high-quality curling and companionship."