The Hall and Robertson Hardware Company was built on the corner of NP Avenue and Eighth Street in 1903. The address is 648 NP Avenue.

The color image below right is from a postcard dated 1909. It is a greatly enlarged and cropped piece of the panoramic postcard view seen on another page.

The black and white photograph was identified in the 1906 Fargo souvenir book as the "Lawrence Building." It shows the north and west sides of the building.

In 1911 Fred V. Hutchinson and Walter L. Stockwell founded the Northern School Supply. Hutchinson was a former North Dakota educator, Stockwell a former superintendent of public instruction for North Dakota. Northern School Supply occupied several sites in downtown Fargo before moving to the Hall and Robertson building on Eighth Street, in 1920. Early on, most of the building was rented to other businesses. But Northern School Supply grew steadily and gradually occupied more of the building.

On October 31, 1997 Northern School Supply closed after eighty-six years in business. It was bought out by School Specialty Inc. of Appleton, Wisconsin. School Specialty closed Northern School Supply's retail store at 17 8th
St. N., Fargo, and cut most of Northern School Supply's 45 employees here.

After sitting vacant for two years, School Specialty announced in 2000 its intention to demolish the historic four-story, 52,000 square foot building. The proximity of the building to the noise of the NP railroad, the need for several million dollars in renovations and the fact that the land beneath the building was owned by the Burlington Northern railroad all combined to make unattractive to buyers. The company offered to donate the building to Fargo but the offer was declined.

In an attempt to forestall demolition, the city of Fargo paid several months rent on the building to save it. In August 2001, Great Plains chairman and CEO Doug Burgum, purchased the building to save it. [HURRAY !!!!!] In December 2001, Burgum donated the 98-year-old building to the NDSU Development Foundation, which plans to restore the building and make it home to the university architecture and studio arts program. The city of Fargo already has pledged $400,000 in federal grant funds for exterior improvements and to make the building handicap-accessible. Burgum will donate $1.5 million to the downtown restoration project.The NDSU Development Foundation originally planned to contribute between $3 million and $5 million by issuing bonds.

The project, which will restore the building to its original 1903 Romanesque design, is expected to be complete by September 2003.