ND Cowboy Hall of Fame - Stories & Articles

Hall of Fame Opens, Featuring New Exhibits

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May 19, 2008

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Darrell Dorgan 250-1833

---HALL OF FAME OPENS, FEATURING NEW EXHIBITS--

The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, North Dakota’s Tourist Attraction Of The Year for 2007, has opened for its third full season in Medora.

Last year, the Center of Western Heritage and Cultures: Native American, Ranching and Rodeo drew more than 25,000 visitors, and Executive Director Darrell Dorgan says, ”Despite gas prices, we have two new exhibits that we think will draw people to Medora.”

The two new exhibits include “The Guns of Dakota”, a cooperative effort between the State Historical Society of North Dakota and the National Rifle Association and a new exhibit on homesteading that was assembled with assistance from the National Archives.

The Guns of Dakota features more than 30 significant firearms used in North Dakota from the days of Lewis and Clark until the early 1900s. Guns that anchor the new exhibit including a hunting rifle owned by Theodore Roosevelt; dueling pistols that once belonged to the Marquis de Mores (they’ve been used); and one of the rifles from the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

The gun exhibit will run through September and join a new exhibit on homesteading.
The homestead exhibit features actual claims filed; photos and stories of families who came to North Dakota to seek their share of the American Dream and memorabilia. The homestead exhibit is a cooperative effort between the Cowboy Hall of Fame and the National Archives.

More than 300,000 people from across the U.S. and Europe came to North Dakota to claim 160 acres under the 1862 Homestead Act between 1870 and 1910. Homesteading was heavily promoted by the railroads as a way to sell their excess land and create customers for their rail services.

The offer of free land was also widely advertised in Europe, and North Dakota today is filled with the descendants of Germans from Russia and from Norway, Sweden, Ireland and numerous other countries.

Dorgan notes, “A surprising number of the people who homesteaded were single women who wanted land of their own.

A significant number of the actual homesteads still remain under the ownership of the families that settled them and are being farmed and ranched today.”

Ballots were also sent out last week to the more than 200 Cowboy Hall of Fame Trustees, and the nine inductees will be selected from categories that include Pre-1940 Ranching, Modern-era Ranching, Ranches, Pre-1940 Rodeo, Modern-era Rodeo, Leaders of Ranching and Rodeo, Rodeo Livestock and the newly created Rodeo Arena Division.

The names of the nine new inductees selected for the Hall of Honorees in 2008 will be announced over the 4th of July. As Dorgan notes, “The new inductees will join the more than 100 others who have been inducted since 1998,” says Dorgan.

The Hall of Fame’s Center of Western Heritage and Cultures officially begins the 2008 season Memorial Day weekend by opening daily from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Its galleries and exhibits detail the history of the plains horse culture.

The facility is also used for meetings, reunions, weddings and other events. An attached patio provides room for more than 200 people for catered events. Catered food and beverage service is available. Group rates and room rentals are available for special events.

Fundraising for the project continues. Dorgan says, “The Hall of Fame hopes to raise an additional $1 million over the next year and become debt free.” Contributions for the project may be sent to the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, 1110 College Drive Suite 216, Bismarck, North Dakota 58501.