Mark the Dakotaland Museum as one of your must-see places to visit while at the State Fair. Located on Third Street on the Fairgrounds, it was built in 1912 as the new Dairy Building. It had a very modern refrigerated display case running down the center of the building to showcase dairy products during the State Fair. It is the oldest building on the Fairgrounds and is listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings.
We have been able to replace four of the Seeds of Democracy murals. They are on the north side of the building facing Third Street and easily visible to passersby.
But you wont just want to view the murals, youll want to come inside for a glance into the past. The Museum has more than 12,000 artifacts on display including farm equipment, household implements, furniture, toys, and even a Model T Ford and a 1927 racecar! Some collections, like our taxidermy specimens and the Welcome to the Prairie Gallery, are on permanent display.
We have added more reading rails and narrative panels explaining the history and importance of our more popular exhibits.
There is an interactive display about newspapers and typesetters, using a set of type donated from the Plainsman. Do you know why capital letters are called upper case? Come to the museum to find out.
Besides the newspaper area where people can print messages using the type, there are dress-up clothes, checkers, and Lincoln Logs in the Welcome to the Prairie Gallery. Near the railroad artifacts there is a working telegraph key and next to the switchboard, a rotary phone. For a Touch Me station we have collected various furs, pelts, antlers, horns, and Native stone tools.
The museum has a signed drawing of Beadle County done by James Carr, an exchange teacher in Huron from England. He wrote a book, Gone with the Whirlwind, based on the true story and his 1938 interview of Nettie Cook Dramsdahl. She was inside her house when it was lifted up into a tornado in 1884 just south of Huron. Frank Baum was editor of the paper in Aberdeen in 1888 and would have heard about this extraordinary event. Maybe his book, The Wizard of Oz, was based on this Huron happening.
There is an exhibit relating to the Merci Train across the street. The museum presents a short history of the boxcar at 1 p.m. Wednesday through Friday for school groups and adults next to the train car. Come listen to the story, then visit the exhibit.
And dont forget to stop into the Hotchkiss school next door for some fun activities.
There is always so much to see and do at the Dakotaland Museum. Open every day of the Fair from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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