(Original cache container went missing a long while ago. I finally decided to add this stop back to the series in Northwood.)
The Pioneer Museum is in a building that used to be the City Hall. The plaque near the bell states the building was both the City Hall and the Fire Department from 1910-1963.
The tornado damaged the roof in the south end and broke ~10 windows. The heavy rain came and water leaked in, causing heavy damage to the pictures. About 75% of the pictures hanging on the wall came off their hooks. Four glass show cases broke, throwing items around. Vintage clothing got wet and moldy, expensive clocks were damaged, water-soaked hardwood floors warped, and the music system was wrecked, but much was salvageable. Each item was photographed, packed and stored to enable contractors to repair the building. A "bucket brigade" of volunteers from Grand Forks Air Force Base, ND, and even someone from Bismark as well as many other local citizens formed to carry the boxes of carefully packed artifacts from the building to empty curbside containers. Vintage fire-fighting equipment was rolled down the street to be stored in the Fire Hall.
By spring of 2009 the building repairs were completed and the artifacts were unpacked and brought back into the building. Some display cases originally built for the Paul Bilden Pharmacy, then obtained by Orville Bakken when the pharmacy building was remodeled and stored for years in a shed on his farm, were donated to the museum by his children.
The Pioneer Museum is open during Old Fashion Saturday in July and only on a few other special occasions.