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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Johnson (701) 328-2124 or Diane Rogness (701) 328-3508
May 9, 2008

GRAND OPENING OF NEW INTERPRETIVE CENTER AT
FORT ABERCROMBIE SITE NEAR FARGO, WAHPETON SET FOR MAY 18

ABERCROMBIE – Grand opening events for the new $1.3 million interpretive center at Fort Abercrombie State Historic Site near Fargo and Wahpeton will be held Sunday, May 18, beginning with a ribbon cutting at 2 p.m. opening the doors to the public.

Located 37 miles south of Fargo and 15 miles north of Wahpeton, Fort Abercrombie State Historic Site is one of 56 sites managed by the state’s history agency, the State Historical Society of North Dakota (SHSND). 

Among those participating in the ribbon cutting will be representatives from the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Reservation at Sisseton, South Dakota.  The Miller Family from Mandan, North Dakota will perform Civil War-era songs at 2:30 and 4 p.m., and also instrumental music during the afternoon.  Other entertainment will also be featured throughout the afternoon.

“The new interpretive center is a major addition to the area, telling the important story of Fort Abercrombie and its era in an exciting, state-of-the-art approach,” said SHSND Director Merl Paaverud.  “It is an outstanding example of what can be accomplished through partnerships at the local, state and federal levels.”

As the “Gateway to the Dakotas,” Fort Abercrombie guarded vital transportation routes and served as an important supply point for military campaigns in the Dakota Territory of the 1860s.  The new exhibits at the 3,800-square-foot interpretive center feature this history, including the fort’s role in the Dakota Conflict of 1862.  They include a mountain howitzer – a cannon used to defend the fort – and uniforms and equipment used by soldiers at the fort.  Visitors will be able to listen to the sounds of the 1860s, such as a steamboat whistle and the squeal of an oxcart about to ford the Red River.  A birds eye view of the fort grounds and Red River Valley from the new observation deck will enhance the experience.

Fifteen new outdoor interpretive signs explain key buildings and locations around the fort.  In addition to showing what the fort buildings would have looked like, they also show who may have lived or worked in those buildings.  A museum store will offer quality merchandise that customers can’t find everywhere else, such as jewelry, books, clothing, food products, toys, souvenirs, and many North Dakota-made products.

Designed by the architectural firm of Lightowler Johnson Associates in Fargo, the facility incorporates some of the fort’s features, including a central “blockhouse” section modeled after the blockhouses that helped defend the site.  It is located just outside the palisade on the northwest corner of the fort site.

Funding for the interpretive center has been provided through a combination of local, state and federal money.  This includes $900,000 from the North Dakota Legislative Assembly, and a $200,000 matching grant from the federal Save America’s Treasures program.  The expansion builds on the $500,000 development project completed at the site in 2002, which included reconstruction of the fort’s blockhouses, guardhouse, and part of the stockade.  New exhibit panels were also installed in the blockhouses in 2005, with $165,000 funded by Federal Highway Administration funds, coordinated by the North Dakota Department of Transportation.                              

The U.S. Congress authorized the fort’s construction in 1857.  The fort began operations in 1858; the last soldiers were withdrawn in 1877.  It was the first permanent U.S. Army fort established in what is now North Dakota and was besieged by the Dakota (Sioux) during the Dakota Conflict of 1862.  As the crossroads of several major transportation routes throughout the Northern Plains until its abandonment, it guarded fur-trade oxcart trails, wagon trains, stagecoach routes, and steamboat traffic on the Red River.  It was also a supply base for wagon trains headed west to the Montana gold fields, military freight, and pioneer settlers headed into Dakota Territory.

For a detailed calendar of this year’s programs at the state historic sites, the North Dakota Heritage Center, and the Pembina State Museum, contact the State Historical Society at (701) 328-2666 or visit the agency’s web site at www.nd.gov/hist.

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Note: A JPEG image of the exterior of the new Fort Abercrombie Interpretive Center is available by contacting SHSND Communications and Education Director Rick Collin at (701) 328-1476 or e-mailing him at rcollin@nd.gov.