FARGO (KFGO) – The Lashkowitz High Rise will finally be demolished on Saturday, almost two years after the last residents were moved out and the building condemned. The contractor in charge of the project says it’s a near-miracle the building stood as long as it did. But when the high rise was erected in 1970, it was a marvel – the tallest structure of its kind in the nation at the time, a citadel of affordable public housing on the edge of downtown Fargo, and part of a vision for urban renewal then-mayor Herschel Lashkowitz had long championed. That it would be named for him, a personality as towering as the building itself, seemed only appropriate.
While there aren’t many people left who knew, covered, or worked with Lashkowitz, who died at the age of 75 in 1993, the stories of his leadership at City Hall are the stuff of legend. He holds the title as Fargo’s longest-serving mayor, and always will – at least as long as the term limits ordinance remains in place. He led the city from 1954-74. It was, by all surviving accounts, a riotous 20-year reign, marked by monumental fiascos and astonishing successes.
Lashkowitz was born in Fargo in 1918. His parents immigrated to the United States from Ukraine and Lithuania. They were prominent members of the city’s Jewish community. He went to the University of Minnesota for college and served as an Army lieutenant during WWII. He came back to Fargo after law school and got involved in Dem-NPL politics. He was first elected mayor a year after becoming chair of the Cass County Democratic party.
Fargo thrived during Lashkowitz’s run at the helm of the city, though some said it was in spite of him. He made as many enemies as he did friends, and the city auditor at the time likened him to a bull in a china shop. He was known for driving out effective and dutiful city employees through intimidation and sometimes losing out on opportunities for the city due to his lack of diplomacy. Still, he brought significant federal funding into the city, fought to keep taxes low for business owners, and envisioned and oversaw important developments in flood control and major expansions of not just public housing but also of public facilities. Construction of the Civic Auditorium, a new City Hall and downtown police station, three fire stations, and an expansion of Hector Airport happened during his administration, and Fargo had an enviable bonding position throughout his five terms.
Fargo’s second-longest serving mayor was Jon Lindgren, who served from 1978-1994. Lindgren remembers Lashkowitz for his unmatched skill at retail politicking.
“Herschel was a personality. When you went around town with him, all kinds of people would talk to him and acknowledge him and he would always know who they were. He just dominated the city – I suppose in the same way that Donald Trump now dominates the Republican Party. He was just a force,” Lindgren said.
Ed Stern was the owner of the men’s clothier Straus and an influential businessman in downtown Fargo. In the early 1970s he told Fargo reporters that while there had been murmurs of a federal appointment for Lashkowitz, he believed the mayor’s political power was particular to Fargo.
“He’d be laughed out of Washington,” Stern said. But, he added, “I think he’s going to be mayor as long as he wants. The only person to beat him would have to start running five years ahead of time and go to all the meetings, marriages, funerals, etc.”
John See was on the City Commission during Lashkowitz’s reign. He complained at the time that the mayor would use any method to get his way, but said he was a lesson in contradictions.
“He’ll use anybody, step on anybody. Repercussions don’t bother him at all, until an election is in sight,” See said in 1972. But, he said, “He’s a joy to work with…if you’re fighting for the same thing – if.”
By the early 1970s fatigue from the Mayor’s antics had reached a point that city commissioners were publicly denouncing them in the press, and reporters had begun investigating a number of claims of mismanagement and wrongdoing by Lashkowitz. Then, in August of 1971, Lashkowitz was injured in a car accident which claimed the life of his mother, with whom he still lived at the time and was by all accounts extremely close. He spent weeks in hospitals, being treated for both physical and psychological distress. By the time his campaign for re-election came along in 1974, both community support and seemingly Lashkowitz’s own usual political vigor had waned.
Charley Johnson, now the head of the F-M Convention and Visitors Bureau but previously a long-time journalist in Fargo, covered Lashkowitz’s last campaign as a cub reporter.
“I kind of came in on the tail end of it. Of course, his reputation preceded him. But it was interesting to see him campaigning that last time. My recollection is he didn’t have the same fire for that campaign as he had before, when he was really eager to remain mayor. This would have been his sixth term, and it was almost kind of perfunctory. He just didn’t seem like the Herschel, the legend I had read about or seen. Of course this was after his mother had died, and everyone knows that had a huge effect on him,” Johnson said.
Lashkowitz was unseated by a significant margin by a young Republican State Representative named Richard Hentges. The loss stunned Lashkowitz, who blamed complacency within his base for it.
“Those first couple days after my defeat were pretty lonely,” Lashkowitz told columnist Howard Binford that summer. “But if the election were today I would be a big winner. Hundreds have called to express how sad they were to hear I was defeated. I don’t know how many times I’ve been told ‘If we had only known you were in trouble we would have worked harder.’”
It did not take long for Lashkowitz to get his second wind after the loss. That fall he ran for State Senator for Fargo’s District 21 and won. He held the seat for 15 years, from 1975-90. Lindgren, who unseated Hentges in the 1978 mayoral election, said as controversial and difficult as Lashkowitz was, he was equally beloved by a loyal following.
“There were people who were just always mad at him and blaming him for everything but as a political phenomenon he was like none other,” he said.
Lashkowitz’s legacy of advancing the cause of affordable public housing endures. Chris Brungardt, the CEO of Fargo Housing, said the new 110-unit affordable housing project that will replace the high rise will be named Lashkowitz Riverfront. Earlier this year U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer introduced a bill which would create a $500 million fund in Lashkowitz’s name to help improve Section 8, the federal government’s largest rental assistance program.
And even though the most iconic reminder of Lashkowitz’s impact will soon be imploded, at least it will be a high-profile and explosive end – another fitting tribute to the most mercurial but compelling political figure Fargo has ever known.
