WHAT? A MATERNITY HOSPITAL?

Perhaps you have found yourself saying to your child, "Oh, that building used to be the Gustafson Nash dealership OR the Times used to be in the old Stewart Hotel."

Interesting, isn't it, that buildings are just buildings and name changes and original purpose for the building becomes totally something else. Such is the case with the following:

On University Avenue, not far from where we live, there is a three story buff brick building which now houses a group home for developmentally disabled.

Florence Crittenton, the daughter of a prominent New York businessman, Charles Crittenton, was four years old when she died of scarlet fever in 1882. Devastated by the death of his beloved Florence, the millionaire father began attending prayer meetings.

It was at one of these meetings that Charles Crittenton met an evangelist, Smith Allen. During a missionary tour with Allen to the "red light district," Crittenton met two young prostitutes and told them how the death of his much loved daughter led to his religious conversion. The girls, moved by Crittenton's story, expressed a desire to also lead a Christian life. To his dismay, Crittenton discovered that there were no alternatives to life on the streets for these young women.

From that day until the first home was opened on April 19, 1883, Charles Crittenton devoted himself to providing a safe haven for the young women of the streets.

A Safe haven for twelve to fifteen young women, was created at 711 South 13Th Street [now University Drive] in Fargo, with the help of a $ 1,000 contribution from Charles Crittenton. The land was donated by Hannah E. Briggs. I believe that this is the building on the left in the picture above.

The Women's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U) of North Dakota had responsibility of maintaining the home, which served unwed mothers. In 1908, the Florence Crittenton Mission took over the work of the W.C.T.U. home. The main building site was completed in 1911 (the building on the right in the picture above).

The Articles of Incorporation for the Florence Crittenton Home were amended in 1971 with a change of purpose and name. The name Fraser Hall was chosen to honor Mrs. Irene Fraser (member of the Board of Directors) and to give a new focus to a program for the developmentally disabled.