Crookston isn't known for being a major tourist destination, and that's one of its charms. Located in the Red River Valley, 70 miles north of Fargo-Moorhead, the town of 8,000 is a place where you can escape harried city life and relax at your own pace.
Touring the historic downtown, situated on the Red Lake River, visitors can imagine what life was like at the end of the 19th century, when the town was a booming commercial center served by multiple railroad lines.
Walk into history
Crookston has the largest, most architecturally intact concentration of late 19th- and early 20th-century commercial buildings in the region. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, the historic business district includes about 30 structures. Free self-guided walking tour booklets are available at the Crookston Area Chamber of Commerce (1-800-809-5997; www.visitcrookston.com) in the Morris Building, a former jewelry store that's individually listed on the National Historic Register.
Local architect Bert D. Keck designed the Morris Building and two others on the tour that have individual National Historic Register status: the Crookston Carnegie Library, built in 1907, and the former Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, a Gothic Revival-style church built in 1912. Other notable buildings include the imposing and vacant Palace Hotel, now under threat of demolition; the Fontaine and Anglim block, once owned by Louis Fontaine, the grandfather of movie stars Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine; and the former City Hall and fire station, built in 1899, which houses a delightful gift and antiques shop, Willow & Ivy (1-218-281-3104).
A grand place for a movie
Catch a movie at the Grand Theatre, one of the nation's oldest continuously operating movie theaters. Built in 1910, it has since been divided into two screens; the lobby and larger theater have retained some original decor. Although prices aren't as low as they were a century ago, the tickets are still pretty cheap: $4.50 for an evening show and $3.50 for a matinee.
Hand-dipped delights