Nicholas Hirt was born in Minneapolis in 1873. He spent his younger years working at the harvests in North Dakota. He married Orissa Arnold at Hudson, Wisconsin in 1896 and they lived in Minneapolis until the next summer when they moved to North Dakota. In the winter of 1897, they moved to Bemidji, living in a slab shack on First Street where the old Nash Finch building is now located. Mr. Hirt was engaged in logging and reported many visits with Chief Bemidji, who lived to well over 100.
In the summer of 1898 they went by covered wagon to Crookston to file on a homestead in Rockwood township and lived there until his death in 1965.
Mr. Hirt worked for the Crookston Lumber Co. in the early 1900s as a millwright, did blacksmithing for neighbors while clearing land to get started farming. He served several years on the town board also on the school board. In later years he was engaged in dairy farming and timber cutting.