The city of Forman is situated upon the northeast quarter of Section 1, Township 130 North, Range 56 West, within what became Sargent County, North Dakota. When first established, this portion of Dakota Territory was newly organized, having been created from the southern half of Ransom County. The county, measuring twenty-four miles east to west and thirty-six miles north to south, contained twenty-four townships comprising some of the richest agricultural and grazing lands in the region, some 552,960 acres in all. The summer of 1884 saw an impressive sixty thousand acres of prairie sod broken for cultivation, transforming the territory from open range to productive farmland.
Forman, which would soon become the county seat, arose in 1883 through the enterprise and foresight of Colonel Cornelius H. Forman, one of the area’s earliest settlers and a man of uncommon vision. Colonel Forman had acquired his land through squatters’ rights, remaining upon and improving the tract until he could claim it as his own. Upon learning that the site lay nearly at the geographic center of the new county, he recognized its natural advantage as a prospective townsite and county seat. The settlement was first called “Center Township” in acknowledgment of this central position, but when it was formally platted in 1883 the name was changed to Forman in honor of its founder.
Lots in the new town were offered for sale at modest prices, some for as low as fifty dollars. The Colonel generously donated several parcels for public purposes, including those on which would rise the Congregational Church, the schoolhouse, and the county courthouse. By the close of 1883, though but a few months old, Forman already bore the marks of a thriving frontier community. Its situation was especially advantageous: fertile lands extended in every direction, water was plentiful, and the projected line of the Dakota Midland Railroad from Browns Valley, Minnesota, promised direct connection with broader markets to the east.
By December of that year, citizens were confident in Forman’s bright prospects. Among its early enterprises were The Midland, a large and well-furnished hotel accommodating forty guests and operated by George McDermott; The Pioneer, a general store dealing in dry goods, groceries, clothing, and hardware, owned by Forman and Groff; a blacksmith and wagon repair shop under Charles Moore; and the land, loan, and insurance office of Ellsworth and Wells. These establishments, along with other smaller ventures, provided for the daily needs of settlers and travelers alike.
The question of the county seat was settled in 1884, when Forman received one hundred twenty-eight more votes than all its rivals, thereby securing its position as the official seat of Sargent County government. The early county offices occupied a frame building on Main Street from 1886 until 1910, when a fine new brick courthouse was completed on a tract donated by Colonel Forman. Measuring seventy-five by one hundred feet and costing approximately fifty thousand dollars, this building symbolized both the permanence and civic pride of the young community. At the time of its construction, the board of county commissioners consisted of John Sundquist, Peter Weber, Ed C. Enge, and Nels Peterson, with U. P. Irving serving as county auditor.
The educational interests of the settlers were not neglected. In 1884 a frame schoolhouse was built within the town, with W. F. Patterson engaged as its first teacher. The school soon became both an academic and social center, hosting community gatherings, lectures, and meetings during the long Dakota winters.
Transportation reached a new stage of development in the summer of 1887, when the Soo Line Railroad extended its tracks through Forman. The arrival of the railroad secured the town’s importance as a market and shipping point, linking the surrounding grain fields with the elevators and mills of the Twin Cities and beyond. It remains to this day the only railroad serving the city.
In the years that followed, Forman continued to grow in step with the surrounding countryside. It weathered the adversities that tested all prairie towns—blizzards that isolated its people for days, droughts that parched the fields, depressions that stifled trade, and wars that drew its sons into service. Through each trial, the residents maintained a steadfast faith in their community and in one another. Churches, schools, and civic organizations fostered a sense of shared purpose, while businesses and farms alike contributed to the region’s economic vitality.
With the admission of North Dakota to the Union on November 2, 1889, Forman entered a new chapter of development as part of the young state. Over the ensuing decades, it grew from a frontier settlement into a well-ordered county seat. For many years Forman held the unique distinction of being the only incorporated town in North Dakota, a status granted through special legal process, until a legislative act of 1967 reclassified all municipalities in the state as cities.
Today Forman remains the administrative and social center of Sargent County. It lies near Lake Lithia, a small body of water that enhances the natural beauty of its setting. Though its population has fluctuated with the passing years—recorded at 509 in the census of 2020—the community continues to reflect the vision of its founder and the perseverance of those early settlers who, amid the open Dakota plains, created for themselves a home and a community that even today is crucial to Sargent County’s continuity.