Abstract
1874-1929; Governor of North Dakota, 1925-1929
Administrative/Biographical History
Arthur G. Sorlie was born April 26, 1874, in Freeborn County, Minnesota. He attended county schools and graduated from Luther Academy at Albert Lea, Minnesota, in 1893.
He worked in a bank at Buxton, North Dakota, from 1894 to 1897. Afterwards, Sorlie managed a general store in Buxton and then became a traveling shoe salesman in St. Paul from 1899 to 1903. He then opened a bread and cracker factory in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and became involved in numerous other business interests in both North Dakota and Minnesota.
Supported by the Nonpartisan League, he was a progressive Republican and was elected North Dakota's 14th Governor in 1924. During this term, he appointed Gerald P. Nye to fill E. F. Ladd's United States Senate seat. He was re-elected as Governor in 1926, but died in office on August 28, 1928.
The bridge across the Red River of the North at DeMers Avenue in Grand Forks was named for Governor Sorlie.
