Special Places To Visit: Bonanzaville North Dakota

  On one vacation Cathy and I wanted to go west, but instead of using I-90 and South Dakota we thought we would head north and visit Fargo North Dakota and travel west via I-94.  Why you asked would we want to go to Fargo?  Well like I said, sometimes you need to see new things and new places just to break the old routines.  Also we have never been to North Dakota before and the state had its own attractions. The biggest one I wanted to see was the Badlands of North Dakota.
   We arrived in Fargo in the afternoon and found a nice hotel downtown.  As we were checking in we asked the young lady about places to see in and around Fargo.  She looked at us like we were aliens and asked us "You really came here for a vacation?" We said yes and were passing through and just wanted to see what Fargo had to offer tourists traveling across the state.  She said she did not have anything to suggest.  As we were getting our bags taken to the room I noticed that there was a display with some brochures.  So I picked up one for Fargo and looked it over as we unpacked.  The brochure indicated that just outside of Fargo on I-94 in West Fargo was a placed called Bonanzaville USA.  It indicated that it was a recreated town and museum that was cared for by the Cass County, North Dakota, Historical Society. I asked Cathy if she would like to see this place tomorrow and she said it would be OK. 
   The next morning after breakfast we headed out to see this Fargo attraction. When we arrived I could not believe how big the place was and how many buildings were involved.  The following is from their web site to give you an idea of what we saw:

 

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Since 1967, Cass County Historical Society (CCHS) had been collecting buildings from around the county, and moving them to the location now called Bonanzaville, USA on land donated by the Red River Valley Fair. The name refers to the large Bonanza farms that once existed in the Red River Valley. It wasn't until 1972 that a building to house our museum was constructed.   Artifacts were then moved from Menard Hall to the new museum.  Our collection now numbers over 400,000 items that are in either our permanent collection or our educational collection.

Over the years, CCHS has accumulated 41 buildings, many with Historical significance or containing Period Artifacts, while others house the Eugene Dahl Car Museum, the Eagles Air Museum, the Moen Tractor Museum and the Law Enforcement Museum.
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   So you see from the description the place was vast and once we paid our admission we explored pretty much every building and street.  They did a wonderful job recreating a small town as well as having several great museum items to look at.  From farm to auto to military items.  Their collection was vast and well preserved.  We walked around for hours and got to talk to a few people working to keep the place updated and the items preserved.  My best memory was walking into the building that ran the town's telephone system.  When I entered the place it had a smell that I remembered fondly.  You see my Dad, Anthony Hobbs, worked for AT&T and Bell Telephone.  He would take me with him to the local telephone station when he had to respond to a trouble call.  The place in Linton was filled with old telephone batteries and switches, that have since been replaced by computers.  But the place had a distinctive smell of working mechanical devices.  Also the place was very noisy as every time someone would dial a phone in town the switches would click and clack.  Well this building in Fargo had the same smell.  I asked the man working in the building about the place and he indicated that when the local telephone office was converting their systems over to computers they donated their old equipment to Bonanzaville.  He said he was an old telephone employee and knew about the batteries and switches, so he volunteered to help keep the system updated.  I told hm about Dad and that they were almost two of a kind.  It was a great visit as I got to see the old equipment from my youth and to remember Dad once again, as he was the one that got me to love the west.
   After walking our legs off in the town Cathy and I headed back to the hotel.  The girl that was working the desk the previous day was there again.  So we informed her of this diamond in the rough place for tourists to visit.  She smiled and said she will have to let other visitors know about the place in the future.  I am sure this girl wont be on the Fargo tourism board anything soon.  So if you ever find yourself traveling north and through Fargo.  Don't forget to stop and visit this great little town recreation and museum.  You wont be disappointed.