Welcome to the City of Hawley! Hawley is a family friendly community that takes pride in its parks, strong church congregations, large residential lots, wide streets and our state-of-the-art K-12 school system.   Prairie Hills Estates is a unique development that offers a true country feel with large lots and city conveniences.  Our developments are designed around the natural features of the land - such as rolling hills and abundant trees, and within walking distance of Hawley Schools, Prairie Nature Center, local parks and churches.   The first addition in Prairie Hills consists of 48 lots, Hawley, Birthplace of the Hjemkomst and is nearly sold out.  The second phase consists of 33 lots and opened in the fall of 2005.  For more information regarding these lots go to sales@prairiehillsestates.com or www.prairiehillsestates.com. Maple Ridge is a 21-lot development that is a rural hilltop setting overlooking the picturesque Hawley Golf and Country Club. We invite you to look into joining our thriving and safe, family community.    Check out our Hawleywould promotions by clicking on this link www.HawleyWould.com.   Map-2007-illus[Converted].pdf   Printer-friendly Version

"Hawley is also a very friendly Community"

Ole and Lena Swenson had lived in the Fargo Moorhead area all their lives. 
Here is their story.  

Ole Swenson's father, Ole Swenson, had been a successful Ice Man.  Every winter he sawed Ice out of Stump Lake between Hawley and Rollag.   He hauled it by horse and wagon to a gravel pit he rented from the Aimes brothers, and there he would cover it with straw for summer storage.   His delivery route took him all the way south to homes in Sabin, homes in Comstock, homes in Wolverton, and homes in Downer.   And meanwhile his mother, Lena Swenson, took in laundry at their house in Moorhead.   Her best customer was the Aspen family who were very particular about their property but always sent her a box of chocolates at Christmas.

Lena's grandmother and grandfather, Ole and Lena Larson, had bought some Real Estate between Hawley and Glyndon for a buck an acre.  However it was too rocky to farm or ranch and darn near worthless.  Ole Larson tried hard to make wheat grow but there was so much dam sand and gravel he finally gave up on the idea and sold it to a couple of fellers from Minneapolis named Aimes and Aspen who paid Ole and Lena 2 bucks an acre.  Ole loved to tell the story of how he made a big profit from those two city boys who didn't know one end of a plow from another.  Ole and Lena Larson had 2 sons, Swen and Lars.  They eventually served their country honorably in the war both getting Bronze stars for heroism.   After they returned to Clay County they got good jobs digging sand and gravel for the Aimes and Aspen Sand, Gravel, and Real Estate Company of Glyndon. 

Swen Larson couldn't make a living with Aimes and Aspen so he found work with the Northern Pacific Railroad in Dilworth as brakeman.  But his back was real weak from years of shoveling gravel so he took his pension and retired.  Lars Larson became a successful Fuller Brush man and was well known in Glyndon, Felton, Hawley, and Dilworth... It was said he could sell ice to eskimos or sand to a camel herder.  He moved up the ladder to assistant Regional Vice President with a corner office in the Aimes Building right across from Aspen Realty of Dilworth.  Aspen Realty became Asp Real Estate and had many homes for sale in Moorhead yet in the 1960's.

Lars Larson married Lena Olson from Ulen.  And their only child was Lena Larson who at the age of 42 became the wife of Ole Swenson who was not yet 38.... But Ole wanted a stout woman and Lena fit the bill.

In recent years Ole and Lena Swenson had decided that retirement to Cass County was a better choice, for real estate tax, and special assessments were said to be lower on the ND side of the Red River.  But they needed something to do in their spare time and had found a good deal on a pop-up camper at McLachlins RV and Camper World.  So they decided to see what fun they could have camping.  They had heard about a nice campground south of Kindred - over toward Leonard and Davenport.  Lena, being a stout woman, and very clean, was worried about the toilet facilities.   So she wrote a letter to the campground owner, Johnny Johnson.  And being very proper she didn't want to use the word "toilet" in the letter.   She preferred to use the initials L.C. which stood for "Lavatory Commode" because that's what they called it in Dilworth when she attended St Olafs Grammar School.  She sent the letter and asked if the campers had access to a proper " L. C."  The campground owner recognized by the name that Lena was certainly a Scandanavian, Scandinavian therefore L. C. would certainly refer to the Lutheran Church which sat just 3 miles from his campground.  So the campground owner wrote back...." I am happy to inform you there is an L. C. located 3 miles west of the camp on the road back to Kindred.  I realize this is kind of far if you are used to going regular.  It is a very popular L.C..... but only seats 122 people.  The last time my wife and I went was 2  weeks ago, and it was so crowded we had to wait 10 minutes to get in our pew.  Some people like it so much they bring their lunch and make a day of it.   There is going to be bake sale in the basement of the L. C. to raise money for additional seating.  It pains me that I cannot go more often, like I know I should, but it gets more difficult when you get older, especially in the winter.   So, you come down and stay at our camp, and maybe we can go with you the first time to the L. C. and sit with you and I'll introduce you to all the nice folks around here, because after all Kindred is a very friendly community."