Grand Forks, city in eastern North Dakota. The seat of Grand Forks County, Grand Forks is located at the junction of the Red Lake River and the Red River of the North, opposite East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Grand Forks is the second largest city in the state (after Fargo) and is the processing and shipping center of a fertile agricultural region that produces potatoes, sugar beets, wheat, and livestock. The University of North Dakota (1883) is here, and the Grand Forks Air Force Base is nearby. Homesteaders began arriving here in 1869, and the community grew as a river port with a shipbuilding industry. The city was named by French fur trappers for the fork of the two rivers. It was incorporated as a city in 1881. According to the 1990 census, whites constitute 95.5 percent of the population; Native Americans, 2.3 percent; people of Asian origin, 2.3 percent; and blacks, 0.8 percent. Hispanics, who may also be counted among other groups, comprise 1.2 percent of the population. Population 43,765 (1980); 49,425 (1990); 49,321 (2000).
