Andrea Johnson/MDN The Ward County Historical Society Pioneer Village is pictured on Friday near Burlington.

BURLINGTON – Great things are continuing at the Ward County Historical Society’s Pioneer Village along U.S. Highway 2 in Burlington, according to historical society president David Leite.

“We have just received a large donation in the form of recycled crushed and packed asphalt. It might not be something you wish for in your Christmas stocking, but it is exactly what we needed at the Museum,” said Leite in an emailed newsletter. “We now have a parking area and internal roads, putting us another leaf forward to rebuilding the Pioneer Village Museum. A big thank you goes out to Farden Construction, On Point Excavating, Bechtold Paving, Gravel Products, Minot Paving and Sundre Sand and Gravel.”

Leite said in the email that a flea market, rummage sale, car and tractor show at the site on Aug. 1 and 2 were a success.

“There was a steady flow of people in and out all day both days, with some 35 vendors selling a nice variety of food, ice cream, and commodities,” Leite wrote in an email. “Pioneer Village had their own tables set up for a rummage sale, and lots of people from the area donated an unbelievable variety and quantity of items. The Village did very well with fund raising from all the donated items and plan to do the same thing next year … All rummage items that were left were donated to Relay for Life for their fund raising rummage sale. It was estimated that over 1,000 people came to enjoy the festivities.”

More work is planned.

“Recently the Museum was donated two Eureka school buildings from north of Minot; they need to erect the end wall in one building and a side wall on the other. Then they plan to install Mobility Challenged Rest Rooms in the one Eureka school which is by the church,” wrote Leite. ” Mattson Construction has donated the former True Value Hardware 190′ x 220′ building to the Museum; it is a Butler building and is completely dismantled and on pallets. It is the Museum’s next project to get up or sell so we can build some different building; depending on costs and values. Currently projections are around $300,000.00 to get concrete footings down for the building, and get the building erected. After the Museum gets some sort of storage/equipment/car display building erected, the next project will be a nice Visitor Center.

“Plans are to plant grass this fall, prior to snow falling. Grass seed has been donated by various vendors, including Wilber Ellis Company. Donations for any or all projects are much needed and appreciated, as are any volunteer persons they can get. There are a lot of small jobs that can be done by different people.”

The museum was located at the North Dakota State Fairgrounds in Minot until the buildings were relocated to the site near Burlington last year. The historical society holds the title to the land where the museum is located and historical society members have been diligently working to make the museum better than ever.