How well do you know your county?
It is claimed that most people in the United States know little geography and history beyond their own county. The question is how much do we know about our own county? As a part of the quasquicentennial (125th anniversary) celebrations Richland County developed the CEE (Celebrate! Educate! Energize!) that developed two (one north one south as the county is so large) bus tours to enable people to learn more about Richland County. Lois Berndt, the Richland County Historical Museum Director was one of the tour planners and was surprised at how much new information she learned about the county despite her position.
Renelle Bertsch Lois Berndt Ken Hardy
On the south tour a notable finding was that Great Bend had two churches (1881) before there was even a town. Very impressive was the Fairmont War Memorial (covering all conflicts back to the Mexican War prior to the Civil War). The three million dollar community center in Hankinson amazed; not only how nice it is but that such a small community could accomplish it. They also learned of the rare orchid that flowers in the Sand Hills. The Adams Farm north of Great Bend (now a Bed and Breakfast) used to be a bonanza farm like the Bagg Bonanza farm.
The participants in the north tour were amazed at the truss company in Abercrombie a seven million dollar a year operation running twenty fours a day with all trusses manufactured being sold. The tour included the replication of Fort Abercrombie (the old site is currently where the river is) including the story of one of the fort’s commanders making the men reroute the river using shovels so that a bar was on the Minnesota side and he would know by their wet pants who had gone there. The grasslands were visited and they learned that it is home to a herd of sheep.
Both buses arrived within twenty minutes of each other at the Bagg Farm in the evening for dinner.