Optometrists Stanton Andrist, Casey Bartz and Patrick Williamson have moved from the old Center Mall into a new facility in front of the Azool Shopping Center.

Moorhead Vision Associates new optometric clinic is located at 855 37th Ave. S.

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

Moorhead’s first optometric clinic is also its newest.
The opening of Moorhead Vision in March marked a big step for Drs. Stan Andrist, Casey Bartz and Patrick Williamson. Their move to 855 37th Ave. S. – directly in front of the Mazola Center – began a new chapter in the 100-year-old practice.
The clinic was one of the original occupants of the Center Mall when it opened in 1972. “Before it opened, actually,” Bartz says, correcting the timeline. But demolition of the defunct mall forced the doctors to relocate, ultimately leaving downtown behind for an easily accessible site backing up to Highway 75 on the south side.
The move didn’t turn out as smooth as they’d envisioned. “Construction was six months behind schedule,” Bartz says. Most of the mall emptied and was closed off as downtown redevelopment over the past 18 months as redevelopment eliminated that 50-year-old structure. The eye clinic was one of its last occupants, left with difficult and shifting access and darkened, chilly walkways.
Yet, says Bartz, the optometrists’ patients continued to find their way during those difficult last month The new facility, renamed simply Moorhead Vision, was being completed and reopened in early March. Now the doctors and three opticians see patients in six spacious, optimally equipment lanes. Afterwards, patients can browse for frames in a lofty sunlit-filled atrium … perhaps while family members await them while sipping coffee at Starbucks next door.
The practice that has become Moorhead Vision began in 1924, when Dr. Ernest Pederson set up his practice in general optometry. Dr. Charles Robinson joined him from 1939 to 1946, replaced in 1948 by Dr. Lloyd Carlson. After Pederson’s death in 1957, Dr. Gaylan Larson joined Carlson; their practice on Center Avenue was continued as “Drs. Carlson and Larson.”
Generations of patients moved with the optometrists to the brand-new mall after urban renewal reworked the downtown landscape. Dr. Thomas Lorentzsen joined the practice in 1981 at Carlson’s retirement. Stan Andrist started four years later; he and Lorentzsen changed the name to Moorhead Vision Associates when Larson retired. The two saw patients in Barnesville, Minnesota, and Casselton, North Dakota, for several years.
In January 2012, Bartz purchased Lorentzsen’s interest, continuing in partnership with Andrist. Williamson joined in 2022 while Bartz recovered from health issues. He purchased Andrist’s interest more than a year ago. Andrist, who continues to see patients, is currently the longest-practicing optometrist, with 40 years to his credit.
Bartz, a native of McIntosh, Minnesota, and Williamson, who grew up in Montevideo, are both graduates of Concordia College. Bartz went on to graduate from the Illinois College of Optometry in Chicago in 2009, going on to a residency in ocular disease and refractive surgery in Louisville, Kentucky.
Like Bartz, Williamson interned at Moorhead Vision during his college years. He graduated from Pacific University before returning to Moorhead. He specializes in contact lenses.
“We’re primary care optometrists,” Bartz explains. “We see healthy eyes as well as sick eyes – easy eyes and challenging eyes.
“It’s important to have your eyes checked yearly,” he continues, “even if you see clearly. Even with perfect vision, you should have yearly evaluations for conditions you can’t usually detect yourself, things like cataracts, glaucoma and adult-inset macular degeneration.
“Your most precious defense, of course, is self-care, but you still need the option of an annual check-up. We’re guardians of your good sight.”
And, perhaps, your good looks. Moorhead Vision displays a vast collection of frames, from the most basic to high style. The clinic’s website offers a new service: An on-line eyewear gallery where patients can look over their options and try them on virtually.
They can also order contacts and make appointments online at www.moorheadvision.com.
Both staff and patients are pleased by the look and feel of Moorhead Vision’s new building. It features floor-to-ceilings windows to the east and west – a big change from the windowless interior quarters the practice had occupied for 53 years. “Now we’re easy to find, with lots and lots of parking,” Bartz observes.
But what’s may be his favorite feature of all? “We all just love the sunshine.”