Family Travel,  Midwest,  Nebraska

Take a Trip Back in Time and Visit Dobby’s Frontier Town

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Sunday morning we worshipped at a church in Rapid City, South Dakota before starting our drive back to Denver. Now the quickest route from Rapid City to Denver does not include driving through Nebraska. But when I saw that it would only add 16 minutes to our drive, I knew we had to take advantage of crossing another state off of our “50 States Before Graduation” Challenge.

Before our trip I did some research to find a few things to see somewhere in Nebraska that would be approximately halfway between Rapid City and Denver. The city that kept popping up was Alliance, Nebraska. One of the places that I read about was Dobby’s Frontier Town.

Kenneth “Dobby” Lee had a love of antiques that he wanted to share with others. He wanted visitors to be able to see how the artifacts were actually used in everyday life while also preserving part of our history for others to enjoy before it gets lost. What better way to accomplish this dream than by letting visitors have a chance to touch, feel, and use the antiques?

Dobby recreated a town that resembled his boyhood town so others could experience what life was like in early Nebraska. His vision started becoming reality when he transformed a former milk house into a replica of the first Alliance post office, and Dobby’s Frontier Town was born.

Rural delivery was limited, so most people would come to town to pick up their mail. The local post office was a great place to find out about news in the community because people would gather here.

I thought it was neat to read the Pony Express Riders Oath that was displayed on the wall- “I, _______ do hereby swear, before the great and living God, that during my engagement, and while I am an employee of Russell, Majors, and Waddell, I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employees, so help me God.”

Dobby’s Frontier Town is free to visit (donations are accepted) and does not generally have staff present when visiting. You are free to walk around and explore the nineteen buildings on your own.

One of the unique things about the frontier town is that it’s not designed to be a view-only or view from a distance experience, instead, you are allowed to walk in and get up close to everything and really explore. They just ask you to be respectful of their artifacts so that everyone can come and enjoy the frontier town.

The printer would print newspapers, magazines, flyers, handbills, and even wanted posters. There were several wanted posters for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Jesse James and Billy the Kid, etc. hung up around the town.

The Saloon was not just a place to grab a drink. It would also serve as the courthouse if there wasn’t one in the town. It’s also the first place that an outsider would go to get information about the area. Women were not usually found in the saloon, as it was considered a men’s only location.

The town barber and local dentist would often share an office. If they couldn’t help you then you would go see the doctor, who was usually in a back room.

Several occupations were responsible for a variety of jobs such as the blacksmith and the carpenter. The town blacksmith was a job that was in high demand, so much so that you couldn’t even call yourself a town unless you had a blacksmith. For the pioneers their blacksmith is the equivalent of our Lowe’s, but in the form of a one-man show. The blacksmith could build you a tool, or a new wheel for your wagon. He could also make nails, hinges, locks, horseshoes, gate latches, and even mend your pan or reattach your kettle handle. Anytime you needed something mended, repaired, fitted, invented or designed, the local blacksmith is who you would go to.

The village carpenter would also be in charge of several different things, one of which was making coffins. He would also most likely be in charge of managing the funeral. There would be a glass window in the coffin which was used for viewing the body when embalming methods were not used, otherwise, there would have been a horrid smell.

Next to the blacksmith shop was the town jail. The cells were only 6’x6′ and were designed for two people to share. If prisoners needed to be moved they would wear a ball and chain that would weigh 25-75 pounds. The unique window was made out of bottles because glass was hard to find.

Rex’s hamburgers was open from around 1927-1969. They sold hamburgers (probably more like sliders) for a nickel, or 6 for a quarter.

The local church held services in German and English. The building was used for town hall meetings as well.

The general store would carry a little bit of everything for everyone. As the town grew, certain items would branch off to their own store, such as fabrics. Women would not only buy fabric to make clothes but would also buy fabric for furniture, curtains, towels, etc.

Dobby’s Frontier Town has a quilt shop where the boys enjoyed trying out a sewing machine.

In another part of the town there is also a dress shop called Dorothy’s Fine Fashions.

This log cabin was the home of a man named Bob Anderson who was born into slavery and was also the region’s first black homesteader. The cabin was transported and reassembled on site.

There was also a Baled Hay house where the interior walls were filled with hay that had been cut, baled and stacked. The walls would then be covered with a limestone and sand mixture to stucco the interior and exterior walls. It worked really well to keep the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

The Texaco gas station shown below was one of the first filling stations in the area and was transported in to be part of the exhibit.

If you decide to visit Dobby’s Frontier Town, make sure to check out their website before you go. There is so much wonderful information about each building on the website that I didn’t see posted anywhere when we were there on site.

For another look at our visit to Dobby’s Frontier Town check out our YouTube video below. You can also read about Day 1 of our trip and our visit to Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater and Casa Bonita, and Day 2 of our trip to Colorado Springs and our stops at the Garden of the Gods, the Manitou Cliff Dwellings Museum, the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade, the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, and Magic Town. You can also go back and read about Day 3 at the Western Museum of Mining and Industry, the Money Museum, the Colorado State Capitol, and the Molly Brown House Museum. Day 4 started with a stop at the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center and a drive down Happy Jack Road to Curt Gowdy State Park before stopping at the Wyoming State Museum. Our visit to South Dakota on Day 5 started with a morning visit to Mount Rushmore, and an afternoon exploring Keystone and driving down Needles Highway. This trip is the first trip of our “50 States Before Graduation Challenge” series.

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