Highway Ten: Conclusion

The final stop: Detroit Lakes. If you grew up in Fargo, you summered at DL. We were out on the boat as many weekends as possible, and I've great memories of the beach, the old pavilion, the bittersweet end-of-the-weekend feeling you got when the sun started to ease down on Sunday night, and you knew it was time to winch the boat back on the trailer and head back home. If we had time we'd stop at the Erie Jr., an ultra-modern diner I still expect to see when I head into town.

Locals will probably tell you it's changed so much since then, but to the tourist's eyes it's much the same. Since all lakes look pretty much alike, let's content ourselves with a few highlights from downtown. Guess what this used to be:

Oh, c'mon. Where's your sense of retail history? The key was the old Ben Franklin logo. The store pulled out a year or so ago.

Speaking of retail, and giant retrofitted facades for venerable small-town department stores:

We wish them a very long life, because if that store ever goes away it'll take the heart out of downtown. No matter what goes in the place - if anything - it'll never be anything but Norby's. Speaking of replacements: it's rather clear this used to be named something else . . .

Great 1940s sign. It's also clear this next building wasn't always a bar. But what? But what? It's right there on the tip of my tongue.

Dig the Jetson-esque ornamentation; if there was any justice, they lit up at night.

That's right: Mac's! But before it was Mac's Surplus, what was it? Think.

Of course: a bank. It has small-town bank stamped all over it, thanks to the time-and-temp sign and the modern metal cladding. Currently unoccupied. Walk around the corner, and you see the old building peeking out:

Possibly a restoration. Possibly it fell off, which is entropy's form of restoration. It's a shame. DL has enough brick buildings; no reason they can't keep this one in its original state.

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There's more to Ten, of course - Glydon, Hawley, the other small towns that pop up between DL and Moorhead. There's Moorhead itself, which ushers Ten to the river and the state line. Two photos should sum up the trip. First, a billboard outside of Moorhead:

So it was in the summer of 2009; so it was 40 years ago. I suspect I could pass off these pictures in 2019 as current, and no one would be able to say they weren't.