Bonanzaville, USA facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Bonanzaville, USA

Location	West Fargo, North Dakota, United States

Bonanzaville, USA is an exciting history museum in West Fargo, North Dakota. It's like a whole village from the past! This museum is run by the Cass County Historical Society.

Bonanzaville has forty buildings spread out over 12 acres. Many of these buildings are very old and were moved here from different parts of the region. They now form a historic village where you can explore. Each building often has a special theme. For example, you can see a prairie church, an old general store, a drug store, and even Fargo's very first house. There's also a schoolhouse and a fire station.

Besides these old buildings, there are newer ones too. These include an aircraft museum and an automobile museum. You can also find exhibits with horse-drawn vehicles, old firefighting gear, and medical equipment. There's even a law enforcement museum, a telephone museum, and an old newspaper printing press. Bonanzaville has hundreds of thousands of cool items in its collections for you to discover!

Visiting Bonanzaville

Bonanzaville is easy to find, just off Interstate 94 (Exit 343). It's about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) west of the city of Fargo, North Dakota. The museum village is open from May through September. However, some event spaces are open all year round.

Fun Events at Bonanzaville

The biggest event of the year at Bonanzaville is "Pioneer Days." This is the largest and longest-running annual event in the Fargo–Moorhead area. It happens every year on the third weekend of August.

Other popular events include a special July 4 Celebration. You can also join Ghost Tours and Paranormal Investigations for a spooky adventure. During the winter holidays, "Christmas on the Prairie" is a favorite event. In 2019, the TV show Antiques Roadshow even filmed an episode at Bonanzaville!

What You Can See

Bonanzaville has many interesting exhibits.

Special Exhibits

In 2017, a new exhibit opened that shared the story of the Jewish community in North Dakota. In 2019, the North Dakota State University Fargo History Project created an exhibit about the Spanish–American War.

Telephone Museum

The telephone museum is located in what used to be a hardware store. It was set up by a group called US WEST Telephone Pioneers. Here, you can see old telephones and equipment that helped people talk to each other long ago. You'll find old phone receivers, switching equipment, and even glass or porcelain pieces that held telephone lines. Many of these items came from the local area, used by the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company. You can also see old and new types of telephone cables.

The Telephone Pioneers group helps keep the telephone equipment working. This means you can sometimes even make calls from one building to another within the museum complex! There are many different items related to telephones and communication in this museum.

Images for kids

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  A water tower for trains at Bonanzaville.

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  The Dobrinz School House.

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  An old steam locomotive.

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  A view of the historic village.

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  A street scene showing different buildings.

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  Another view of the museum complex.

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  Inside the recreated Cass County District Courthouse.