UPCOMING EVENTS
North Dakota: 125 Years Exhibit
September 15– October 31
History Education Days
October 1 & 2
Village Closes
October 31
Christmas on the Prairie
We’re in the Christmas Mood
December 6
Cass County Historical Society
1351 West Main Ave
West Fargo, ND 58078
TEL: (701) 282-2822
FAX: (701) 282-7606
NON PROFIT ORG.
US POSTAGE
PAID
FARGO ND
PERMINT NO. 234
Admission
New Executive Director
May-October:
Village Open
Adults: $12.00
Military/Seniors (55+): $10
Children 4-14: $6.00
Children 3 and under~FREE
By: Brenda Warren
Dear Members,
I am very excited as I begin my duties as the Executive Director of
Cass County Historical Society-Bonanzaville. My positions prior
to accepting this position included Director of Procurement,
Director of Communications, and Communications Manager at
National Hospitality Services, as well as Public Relations
Coordinator at Concordia Language Villages.
New Hours
September
Mon-Sat: 10am-5pm
Sun: 12pm-5pm
October
Mon-Fri: CLOSED
Sat: 10am-5pm
Sun: 12pm-5pm
Beginning November 1 we will be closed for the
winter except for special events
If you have any questions please call 701-282-2822
STAY CONNECTED
Call us:
701-282-2822
Learn about us:
www.bonanzaville.org
Facebook:
facebook.com/casscountyhistoricalsociety
Visit us:
1351 Main Ave. W in West Fargo
Planning an event?
Bonanzaville is the perfect location to
hold a family reunion, wedding,
graduation party or business
luncheon. Make your event unique
with Bonanzaville!
Volunteers are an integral part of Cass County Historical SocietyBonanzaville, and one of my goals as Executive Director is to
increase the volunteer base. Our volunteers’ service is invaluable to
making Bonanzaville function smoothly. From daily tasks, helping
setup exhibition openings, general maintenance, cleaning the historical buildings, performing with musical
instruments or a special talent you might have for our special events, or being a flower garden angel, we need
your talents. If you are interested, please feel free to call and email me directly.
Another goal will be to create interactive exhibits for both adults and children. We want to create educational
and fun programs for people of all ages. Hands-on demonstrations and learning go hand-in-hand. I welcome
your ideas.
I look forward to increasing Bonanzaville’s visibility and expanding our role as a cultural and educational
agent. On behalf of myself and our dedicated Board of Directors, we want to sincerely thank you for being a
member and for all the hours of time and effort given willingly to Cass County Historical Society-Bonanzaville
by so many of you.
Brenda Warren
Executive Director
701-282-2822
[email protected]
Collecting, displaying, and interpreting artifacts relevant to the history and cultural heritage of Cass County and the Red River Valley since 1954.
North Dakota: 125 Years
By: Ashley Boyko
The Board Would Like to Thank...
Newly Adopted Buildings
We are excited to announce that several of our
buildings have been adopted!
Bonanzaville is celebrating North Dakota’s 125th
birthday! On November 2, 1889 both North and
South Dakota were signed into statehood by
President Benjamin Harrison on the same day.
However, the president mixed up the documents so
no one knows which state came first.
Bonanzaville will be opening its 125 year exhibit on
Monday, September 22. A grand opening ceremony
was held on September 24. Lieutenant Governor
Drew Wrigley spoke at the opening and presented
Bonanzaville with a commemorative license plate.
This exhibit is Bonanzaville’s way of celebrating
our state’s quasquicentennial!
The Blacksmith Shop has been adopted by
American Welding and Gas.
There are numerous buildings that still need to be
adopted.
For more information on our Adopt-a-Building
program, visit our website at www.bonanzaville.org/
become-involved/adoptabuilding
Adopt These Buildings
Bonanzaville boasts an impressive 43 historical
buildings that make up our pioneer village. It takes a huge Help preserve these buildings and their stories. For more
information visit http://www.bonanzaville.org/becomeamount of maintenance to keep these buildings open for
involved/
the public to tour and enjoy.
adoptabuilding.
Our mission is to preserve the past and educate our
future. This is possible through our Adopt-a-Building
Fargo’s First House
Program. This program ensures that our historic buildings
will have the necessary funding to last for generations.
Twenty percent of the funds received for the adopted
building will be put into a restricted account and used for
materials and supply costs for maintenance and
improvements. The remaining eighty percent will be used
Forness Cabin
for labor, equipment maintenance, landscaping, lawn care,
and administrative costs.
All three of these cabins, Fargo’s First House, the
Forness Cabin, and the Habberstad Cabin are in desperate
need of a helping hand. The walls, flooring, and porches
are deteriorating very quickly. The Forness Cabin was
closed for the entire summer due to wall structure issues.
Habberstad Cabin
With your help, and the adoption of these cabins, our goal
is to have them open and available for tours next year.
The board would like to thank Emily Wehlander
for her dedication to Bonanzaville. During her tenure
as interim director, Emily worked hard to steer
Bonanzaville onto the straight and narrow. We are so
grateful to her for stepping up in our time of need
and taking the reins. Emily has stepped down as interim director and sales & marketing coordinator to
pursue her career elsewhere. We wish her the best of
luck in all future endeavors.
BUSHELS FOR BONANZAVILLE
Donate to Bonanzaville today to help
preserve our past and educate our
future!
For a full list of elevators please visit
our website or call Ashley at
701-282-2822.
Current Board Members
John L. Monilaws - President
Jordan Kelly - Treasurer
Kathleen Toft - Secretary
Ben Hanson
Carol M. Siegert
Colin Kloster
Nancy Johnson
John Strand
Cheryl Severson
Dan Newman
Tessa Wakefield
YOU’RE INVITED!
Christmas on the Prairie
It’s coming sooner than you think!
Mark your calendars now for Christmas
on the Prairie! An old fashioned Christmas celebration complete with cookie
decorating, carolers, a silent auction,
and more!
Santa will be there too! Start working
on your list for the big man.
Date: December 6
Time: 12pm-6:00pm
We’re in the Christmas Mood
EBC Fraternity Alumni Committee
presents a Branson style show!
Soloists, vocal ensembles and an 18
piece Big Band performing the
wonderful sounds of the season.
December 6
Meal will be served at 6:30pm
Musical program begins at 7:30
Tickets go on sale November 1
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2
Collecting,
displaying,
and
interpreting
artifacts
relevant
toto
the
history
and
cultural
heritage
ofof
Cass
County
and
the
Red
R River Valley since 1954.
Collecting,
displaying,
and
interpreting
artifacts
relevant
the
history
and
cultural
heritage
Cass
County
and
the
Red
The 56th annual Pioneer Days occurred on August
16 and 17 this year. Though numbers were down this
year we still had a good turnout with 1,800 people in
By Ashley Boyko
attendance. As with any event, Pioneer Days
This year has been bustling right along. As we head wouldn’t be possible without our very supportive
members and volunteers. We’d also like to thank our
into the fall, we are excited to report that we had
major sponsor, Valley News Live and our main
several very successful events this summer. Our
Honorary Mayor campaign was a great fundraiser this sponsors Bell State Bank & Trust and Boulger
spring. The people voted Jay Thomas as their mayor. Funeral Homes.
The Veterans Memorial Celebration had about 250
military personnel and their families in attendance.
Virginia Kraushaar spoke about “How Active Duty
Abby found us on Facebook and
Deployment Impacted My Life.” The event was
asked to help out at Pioneer
Days! She’s a big fan of Laura
sponsored by West Funeral Homes.
Bonanzaville Turns 60!
Event Report
Ingalls Wilder! Here she is doing
a laundry demonstration.
August 16 & 17, 2014
Veterans and their families
wait in line for food at the
Veterans Memorial Celebration. May 29, 2014
Johnny Crawford came to Pioneer
Days this year! He co-starred on
The Rifleman from 1958-63. He
signed autographs, played music
and did roping demonstrations.
Facilities Report
August 16 & 17, 2014
Red River Valley Veterans
Concert Band playing at the
Veterans Memorial Celebration. May 29, 2014
One of the demonstrators,
Mary Sinkler, shows off her
embroidery at Pioneer Days.
Our 2nd annual July 4th Celebration was a huge
success. We had 3,200 people come to Bonanzaville
to celebrate our freedom and the birth of our nation.
We had a spectacular fireworks display sponsored by
the City of West Fargo and the Convention and
Visitors Bureau. Valley News Live was our main
sponsor and provided us with excellent advertising
and coverage for the event. We’d also like to thank
High Plains Reader, and AM 1100 The Flag for being
sponsors for this event. Of course, none of our events
would be possible without the continued support of
our members and we thank you for your support!
The Cass County Historical Society (CCHS) was museum, Law Enforcement Museum, Telephone
organized in 1954 and became a North Dakota non- Museum, and many more! Many visitors describe Boprofit organization in in 1955. Later that year, the nanzaville as a museum of museums.
Pioneer Daughters donated the contents of their historical museum, which was housed in the basement of
Menard Hall at NDSU (then NDAC). It wasn’t until
1972 that the present museum building was
constructed on land donated by the Red River Valley
Fair. Artifacts were moved from Menard Hall to the
new museum. CCHS, better known as Bonanzaville
has been moving historical buildings from around the
county into the pioneer village since 1967. The name
“Bonanzaville” refers to the large bonanza farms that
once existed in the Red River Valley.
Over the years, we have accumulated 43 historic
buildings that include museums such as the Eugene
Dahl Car Museum, Eagles Air Museum, tractor
August 16 & 17
WE’RE HAVING AN AUCTION!
When: October 11
Time: 9:00am-5:00pm
Where: Bonanzaville
1351 West Main Ave, West Fargo
to volunteer John Bartholomay.
I am always looking for volunteers with specific
By: Dale Wentland
skills to help complete projects around Bonanzaville.
After many painstaking hours of checking If you are interested in volunteering give us a call
telephone lines, and with much help from volunteer today!
John Bartholomay, Bonanzaville has working
security cameras. Now that we have video signals
coming from all of these locations, we just need a
SPUD VALLEY MODEL
device to record the signals. We now have a
functional closed circuit video security system.
RAILROAD CLUB
Another high priority for me is the roof on the drug
The Spud Valley Model Railroad Club was formed
store, which is in poor shape. I have yet to do an in 1955 and invited to Bonanzaville around 1972.
estimate on the cost of this project. We are excited to Ken McIntyre and Arnold Lorentzen visited the
say that the south side of the telephone museum has Railroad Club and offered the Spud Valley Club
the Kathryn, N.D. depot to build model city highbeen re-shingled thanks
lights of West Fargo, Fargo and Moorhead. The
miniature building replicas, representing the communities, as they were back in the 1950s, invite you
to wander along in your imagination as you watch
the trains pass.
Continued on page 5
3
6
Collecting,
displaying,
and
interpreting
artifacts
relevant
toto
the
history
and
cultural
heritage
ofof
Cass
County
and
the
Red
River
Collecting,
displaying,
and
interpreting
artifacts
relevant
the
history
and
cultural
heritage
Cass
County
and
the
Red
R Valley since 1954..
3
St. John’s Lutheran Church Destroyed by Fire
New Educational Programmer &
website. Ashley is
originally from Bismarck,
Ashley Boyko is our new Educational Programmer
ND. Being a North Dakota
and Special Events Coordinator. Ashley started
native, she understands the
working at Bonanzaville at the end of May as the sales importance of places like
and marketing intern. She received her Bachelor
Bonanzaville and looks
degree in Animal Science from Andrews University in forward to preserving its
May 2014 and has chosen a career in informal
past and educating its
education. After searching for a job in this field at
future.
both zoos and museums across the country, she finally
found something she was really excited about, an
internship at Bonanzaville. This opportunity allowed
her to expand both her resume and her skills. She
helped plan the 4th of July Celebration and Pioneer
Spud Valley cont’d
Days and was involved with West Fargo Parks’ day
Continued from page 3
camps program. She is excited to join the
When you walk past the display case, you will find
Bonanzaville team. Her job description covers many
our miniature HO train layout. A motion detector
things including event rentals, weddings, school tours,
will start trains running through the replica cities,
special event planning, social media, and updating the giving the subtle effect that adds a quiet mystery to
Special Events Coordinator —
St. John’s Church was ravaged by fire on July
19, 2014. St. John’s Church, with its tall, white
steeple and prominent location served as a towering
Christian sentinel over Bonanzaville. Substantial costs
with demolition, asbestos abatement, and transporting
a similar historic church to replace the existing
structure will be incurred.
The estimates to restore the church came in at
half a million to $1 million After receiving the bids
for rebuilding the church, the Board of Directors, with
heavy hearts, voted to take the more fiscally
responsible route of demolishing St. John’s. Asbestos
was found in the church and an abatement was
performed prior to demolition.
St. John’s Church came to Bonanzaville in
1967 from the Horace Lutheran Parish. They donated
it to Bonanzaville with this statement, “Our building is
given in trust that it will be preserved in order that all
the residents of Cass County might be proud of our
forefathers who established the Church in the Red
River Valley. It is given in the trust that it will be a
place of reverence for all who enter and use it.” By its
very existence, it has touched innumerable lives.
Although it’s sad to see the demolition of this
beautiful church, long time members and caretakers,
Robert and Marilyn Bensen commented on how glad
they were for the extra 47 years Bonanzaville gave to
the church. Although the loss of this church is great,
Bonanzaville looks forward to bringing to life another
prairie church and giving that congregation the same
opportunity as St. John’s, to share their church with
visitors for many years to come.
Bonanzaville has opened an account at Bell
State Bank & Trust specifically for the church fund. If
you wish to donate, please make checks payable to
Bonanzaville and reference them for the church fund.
Cass County Historical Society-Bonanzaville is a nonprofit, 501(c)3, charitable organization. Your
contribution is tax deductible to the extent allowed by
law. Donations can be dropped off at any Bell State
Bank & Trust location or at Bonanzaville. John
Monilaws, president of the board, encourages
everyone to get involved, stating, “Getting St. John’s
removed from Bonanzaville and getting a replacement
church moved in and ready for visitors, is going to be
a huge undertaking. I hope that our community will
help to make this a reality for Bonanzaville. It will be
a great day for Bonanzaville when we can all celebrate
the opening of a new church and a new chapter in our
history.”
Left: Early church gathering
circa 1910’s
Right: Lynnsie and Spencer
Johnson on their wedding day.
June 28, 2014
New Facilities Manager —
Dale Wentland
Dale Wentland was named the new Facilities Manager at Bonanzaville July 1, 2014. He recently graduated from Minnesota State Community and Technical
College with a degree in liberal arts. Before earning
his degree he ran a small landscaping business for
eight years. He looks forward to the challenge of
future projects. He is always looking for volunteers
to help with projects. If
you want to get involved, call
Bonanzaville at
701-282-2822.
the model cities and the trains. You will see a Northern Pacific and a Great Northern train pass by. On
the back wall, you will see a Burlington Northern
train or a BNSF, or a Milwaukee Road on the
tracks. We sometimes switch out those different
tracks. We hope
you enjoy the
work of the Spud
Valley
Model
Railroad Club. It
is always a work
in
progress. Please
visit us often.
If you have a
love for toy trains, don’t forget to attend the Spud
Valley Hobby Show, October 19, at the Ramada
Suites in Fargo. The show will run from 9:00 a.m. to
3:00 p.m.
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5
Collecting, displaying, and interpreting artifacts relevant to the history and cultural heritage of Cass County and the Red River
R
Valley since 1954..