Sometimes a small town has a big museum; sometimes it has a huge museum with 24 historic buildings over 35 acres. Such is the Big Horn County Historical Museum in Hardin, Montana, 15 miles from the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. (We were there four years ago, Little Bighorn Battlefield.)
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- Inside the museum are artifacts from early Indian culture. There is a tribute to the tepee, “earth is your first mother, the tepee is your second mother.”
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- Appearing in bars across America, this picture glorifies Custer instead of reminding us that it was US government broken promises that caused the war.
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- This 1921 Model T was gifted to Effie Hoover, a Baptist missionary to the Crow tribe.
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- This 1879 Mud Coach was lighter than a Concord but good for muddy roads.
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- The cornerstone for this German Evangelical Lutheran Christ Church was laid in 1917 in Hardin.
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- The congregation outgrew the building and moved to a larger facility in 1949.
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- These two small cabins were built in 1927 as Camp Custer Motel.
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- The motel included an office/restaurant, a washroom/shower room, and four cabins. (More cabins were added using material form the abandoned Fort Custer.)
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- LaForge moved with his parents from Ohio to Lodge Grass, Montana.
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- LaForge lived among the Crow and guided Custer and others. He was injured prior to the battle of the Little Bighorn so missed serving that day.
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- The 1922 school building served grades one through eight.
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- Such schools were once numerous, but improving roads allowed consolidation.
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- This is what gas stations used to look like.
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- Inside the doctor’s office. Note the quarantine signs on the wall. My house once sported the Scarlet Fever sign and Kay’s, the polio sign.
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- Third caboose of this trip.
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- Renovation needed.
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- Depot.
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- Station master’s office in the depot.
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- The undertaker’s gallery. Note the embalming stations.
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- The wicker casket was used to move bodies.
This is a small fraction of what this amazing museum offers. Definitely worth a visit.