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Associated Press
3 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
North Dakota promises flush toilets at historic sites
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Lawrence Welk didn't have a flush toilet where he grew up, but visitors to his childhood home in rural North Dakota now do. The bandleader's childhood family home marks the latest step in the State Historical Society of North Dakota's nearly completed goal of installing flush toilets at its dozen most popular, staffed sites. The most recent success, with the final three planned to be completed soon, came before the unveiling of a statue of Welk at a site that draws fans who recall 'The Lawrence Welk Show,' which ran on TV for decades starting in the 1950s. The North Dakota group's goal of replacing pit toilets with flush units may seem like a humble aspiration to some, but it's an important milestone, said Chris Dorfschmidt, a historic sites manager. 'A lot of our sites are kind of in the middle of nowhere. As I like to put it, history didn't happen where it's convenient,' he said. 'Because of that, if you've driven all the way out there, and that's the best we can do to kind of accommodate you, it's not the most pleasant experience.' North Dakota has 60 state historic sites — everything from museums and an underground nuclear launch facility to plaques mounted on boulders in fields. 'All of our sites, they really do help share a story of us as a state,' Dorfschmidt said. Two other facilities are slated to be finished by June 30: at Whitestone Hill, the site of a deadly 1863 attack by U.S. troops against Native Americans; and Fort Buford, a military fort near the Missouri-Yellowstone river confluence. The Historical Society also is eyeing the Chateau de Mores for flush toilets. The wealthy Marquis de Mores built the 26-room home in 1883 near Medora, a present-day tourist town in the state's scenic Badlands where a young President Theodore Roosevelt once roamed. Less-visited sites that aren't staffed likely won't receive a restroom upgrade, which costs about $150,000 each. At the Welk Homestead, about 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) southeast of Bismarck, workers matched the color scheme of the restroom to the house and farm buildings, including interior colors. 'We made it to fit into the site and harmonize with the site and just be a pleasant part of the experience,' Historic Sites Manager Rob Hanna said.
The Independent
3 days ago
- General
- The Independent
North Dakota's historic sites will finally have toilets that flush
Lawrence Welk didn't have a flush toilet where he grew up, but visitors to his childhood home in rural North Dakota now do. The bandleader's childhood family home marks the latest step in the State Historical Society of North Dakota's nearly completed goal of installing flush toilets at its dozen most popular, staffed sites. The most recent success, with the final three planned to be completed soon, came before the unveiling of a statue of Welk at a site that draws fans who recall 'The Lawrence Welk Show,' which ran on TV for decades starting in the 1950s. The North Dakota group's goal of replacing pit toilets with flush units may seem like a humble aspiration to some, but it's an important milestone, said Chris Dorfschmidt, a historic sites manager. 'A lot of our sites are kind of in the middle of nowhere. As I like to put it, history didn't happen where it's convenient,' he said. 'Because of that, if you've driven all the way out there, and that's the best we can do to kind of accommodate you, it's not the most pleasant experience.' North Dakota has 60 state historic sites — everything from museums and an underground nuclear launch facility to plaques mounted on boulders in fields. 'All of our sites, they really do help share a story of us as a state,' Dorfschmidt said. Two other facilities are slated to be finished by June 30: at Whitestone Hill, the site of a deadly 1863 attack by U.S. troops against Native Americans; and Fort Buford, a military fort near the Missouri-Yellowstone river confluence. The Historical Society also is eyeing the Chateau de Mores for flush toilets. The wealthy Marquis de Mores built the 26-room home in 1883 near Medora, a present-day tourist town in the state's scenic Badlands where a young President Theodore Roosevelt once roamed. Less-visited sites that aren't staffed likely won't receive a restroom upgrade, which costs about $150,000 each. At the Welk Homestead, about 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) southeast of Bismarck, workers matched the color scheme of the restroom to the house and farm buildings, including interior colors. 'We made it to fit into the site and harmonize with the site and just be a pleasant part of the experience,' Historic Sites Manager Rob Hanna said.
Associated Press
3 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
North Dakota's historic sites will finally have toilets that flush
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Lawrence Welk didn't have a flush toilet where he grew up, but visitors to his childhood home in rural North Dakota now do. The bandleader's childhood family home marks the latest step in the State Historical Society of North Dakota's nearly completed goal of installing flush toilets at its dozen most popular, staffed sites. The most recent success, with the final three planned to be completed soon, came before the unveiling of a statue of Welk at a site that draws fans who recall 'The Lawrence Welk Show,' which ran on TV for decades starting in the 1950s. The North Dakota group's goal of replacing pit toilets with flush units may seem like a humble aspiration to some, but it's an important milestone, said Chris Dorfschmidt, a historic sites manager. 'A lot of our sites are kind of in the middle of nowhere. As I like to put it, history didn't happen where it's convenient,' he said. 'Because of that, if you've driven all the way out there, and that's the best we can do to kind of accommodate you, it's not the most pleasant experience.' North Dakota has 60 state historic sites — everything from museums and an underground nuclear launch facility to plaques mounted on boulders in fields. 'All of our sites, they really do help share a story of us as a state,' Dorfschmidt said. Two other facilities are slated to be finished by June 30: at Whitestone Hill, the site of a deadly 1863 attack by U.S. troops against Native Americans; and Fort Buford, a military fort near the Missouri-Yellowstone river confluence. The Historical Society also is eyeing the Chateau de Mores for flush toilets. The wealthy Marquis de Mores built the 26-room home in 1883 near Medora, a present-day tourist town in the state's scenic Badlands where a young President Theodore Roosevelt once roamed. Less-visited sites that aren't staffed likely won't receive a restroom upgrade, which costs about $150,000 each. At the Welk Homestead, about 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) southeast of Bismarck, workers matched the color scheme of the restroom to the house and farm buildings, including interior colors. 'We made it to fit into the site and harmonize with the site and just be a pleasant part of the experience,' Historic Sites Manager Rob Hanna said.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Train crashes, buying an elephant and other crazy stunts the Iowa State Fair once pulled
As the countdown to the Iowa State Fair continues on, now's the time to start planning your entries for the contests and competitions. From cow-chip throwing to homemade pies, from fine art photography to wine, there's something for everyone to enter for a chance to win the coveted Blue Ribbon. Check out how to participate at If you're worried about the economy and the Iowa State Fair this year, don't fret. More: Want to save money at the Iowa State Fair? Here are early deals for 2025 Back in the 1930s, deep in the Depression Era and way before safety regulations, fair employees had to stage bigger and bigger attractions to get people with less and less money in the gates. Thus, the great grandstand spectacle was born. Below are the stories behind five of our favorite spectacles, clipped from 1930s video shot by Frank Burns, Sr., the then-superintendent of the Varied Industries Building. The video has been archived and provided to the Des Moines Register by the State Historical Society of Iowa of Des Moines. The most famous fair-time spectacle ever was the Iowa State Fair elephant. Baby Mine — who, just for the record, was actually named simply Mine — was purchased by the State Fair and the Des Moines Register after crowd-sourcing nickels and dimes from Iowa's schoolchildren. Mine learned tricks and performed across the country as 'Iowa's pride and Joy' from 1929 to about 1942, always making a point to come back home in August for the Iowa State Fair. In her off-time, she lived in a climate-controlled stall on the fairgrounds. Mine's life had a tragic end, though, and she died in obscurity. Learn more about her rise to fame and fall to anonymity in this special Subscriber-exclusive story. Crashing various vehicles together was a big draw for the fair during the '30s, but the most infamous of these sorts of staged events was the collision of two steam-powered locomotives in 1932. Despite having also wrecked locomotives in 1896 and 1922, the 1932 crash took on an election theme by pitting a Herbert Hoover train against a Franklin Delano Roosevelt train. (Register reporting from the time is not clear on which train won, though in the actual election that fall, Iowan Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Roosevelt.) Traveling at about 50 miles per hour, the four engineers bailed just before the two trains hit each other head-on, hurling metal and wood into the crowd. More than 45,000 people had to be held back from getting too close to the crash site as fire spread from Roosevelt's engine to Hoover's, the Register reported. All of this was orchestrated by an Iowan (of course). Joseph S. Connolly became known as 'Head-On Joe' for his famous train-crashing performances, according to a biography titled 'The Man Who Wrecked 146 Locomotives.' 'Somewhere in the makeup of every normal person,' Connelly is quoted as saying in the book, 'there lurks the suppressed desire to smash things up.' 'As a historian, it kind of breaks my heart,' State Curator Leo Landis told me, 'because here you've got two steam-powered locomotives that, if they were around today, would just be priceless and there'd be museums that would love to have them, that, as a demonstration, get set up and crash into each other.' The smashing theme continued throughout the 1930s, but in 1937 the Iowa State Fair upped the ante by having Captain F.F. Frakes crash a speeding airplane into a house. About 60,000 people watched this climax to this fair's "Thrill Day," according to the Iowa State Fair archives, but the feat apparently made Frakes a wanted man. The house in tatters on the grandstand, Frakes barely escaped arrest for the stunt, State Fair lore says. In general, planes and air tricks of all sorts were draws for the fair. Even an appearance from the grand olde Register and Tribune autogiro (an airplane with windmill-like blades on the front), brought people out to the fairgrounds. With the Great War still in the memory of many older fairgoers, military-themed displays proved popular in the late 20s and 30s. In 1929, the fair staged an airplane dog fight of sorts. The culmination of the show was puncturing and capsizing a WWI anti-shrapnel balloon. And then there's the good old fun of a human cannonball. Wheeeeee! COURTNEY CROWDER, the Register's Iowa Columnist, traverses the state's 99 counties telling Iowans' stories. Her fair spectacle is seeing just how much food she can really eat. You can reach her at 515-284-8360 or ccrowder@ Follow her on Twitter @courtneycare. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State Fair: Remembering some of the fair's wildest stunts
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Train crashes, buying an elephant and other crazy stunts the Iowa State Fair once pulled
As the countdown to the Iowa State Fair continues on, now's the time to start planning your entries for the contests and competitions. From cow-chip throwing to homemade pies, from fine art photography to wine, there's something for everyone to enter for a chance to win the coveted Blue Ribbon. Check out how to participate at If you're worried about the economy and the Iowa State Fair this year, don't fret. More: Want to save money at the Iowa State Fair? Here are early deals for 2025 Back in the 1930s, deep in the Depression Era and way before safety regulations, fair employees had to stage bigger and bigger attractions to get people with less and less money in the gates. Thus, the great grandstand spectacle was born. Below are the stories behind five of our favorite spectacles, clipped from 1930s video shot by Frank Burns, Sr., the then-superintendent of the Varied Industries Building. The video has been archived and provided to the Des Moines Register by the State Historical Society of Iowa of Des Moines. The most famous fair-time spectacle ever was the Iowa State Fair elephant. Baby Mine — who, just for the record, was actually named simply Mine — was purchased by the State Fair and the Des Moines Register after crowd-sourcing nickels and dimes from Iowa's schoolchildren. Mine learned tricks and performed across the country as 'Iowa's pride and Joy' from 1929 to about 1942, always making a point to come back home in August for the Iowa State Fair. In her off-time, she lived in a climate-controlled stall on the fairgrounds. Mine's life had a tragic end, though, and she died in obscurity. Learn more about her rise to fame and fall to anonymity in this special Subscriber-exclusive story. Crashing various vehicles together was a big draw for the fair during the '30s, but the most infamous of these sorts of staged events was the collision of two steam-powered locomotives in 1932. Despite having also wrecked locomotives in 1896 and 1922, the 1932 crash took on an election theme by pitting a Herbert Hoover train against a Franklin Delano Roosevelt train. (Register reporting from the time is not clear on which train won, though in the actual election that fall, Iowan Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Roosevelt.) Traveling at about 50 miles per hour, the four engineers bailed just before the two trains hit each other head-on, hurling metal and wood into the crowd. More than 45,000 people had to be held back from getting too close to the crash site as fire spread from Roosevelt's engine to Hoover's, the Register reported. All of this was orchestrated by an Iowan (of course). Joseph S. Connolly became known as 'Head-On Joe' for his famous train-crashing performances, according to a biography titled 'The Man Who Wrecked 146 Locomotives.' 'Somewhere in the makeup of every normal person,' Connelly is quoted as saying in the book, 'there lurks the suppressed desire to smash things up.' 'As a historian, it kind of breaks my heart,' State Curator Leo Landis told me, 'because here you've got two steam-powered locomotives that, if they were around today, would just be priceless and there'd be museums that would love to have them, that, as a demonstration, get set up and crash into each other.' The smashing theme continued throughout the 1930s, but in 1937 the Iowa State Fair upped the ante by having Captain F.F. Frakes crash a speeding airplane into a house. About 60,000 people watched this climax to this fair's "Thrill Day," according to the Iowa State Fair archives, but the feat apparently made Frakes a wanted man. The house in tatters on the grandstand, Frakes barely escaped arrest for the stunt, State Fair lore says. In general, planes and air tricks of all sorts were draws for the fair. Even an appearance from the grand olde Register and Tribune autogiro (an airplane with windmill-like blades on the front), brought people out to the fairgrounds. With the Great War still in the memory of many older fairgoers, military-themed displays proved popular in the late 20s and 30s. In 1929, the fair staged an airplane dog fight of sorts. The culmination of the show was puncturing and capsizing a WWI anti-shrapnel balloon. And then there's the good old fun of a human cannonball. Wheeeeee! COURTNEY CROWDER, the Register's Iowa Columnist, traverses the state's 99 counties telling Iowans' stories. Her fair spectacle is seeing just how much food she can really eat. You can reach her at 515-284-8360 or ccrowder@ Follow her on Twitter @courtneycare. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State Fair: Remembering some of the fair's wildest stunts
