Richardson's Overland Trail Ranch
At the beginning of the twentieth century the stage station at the Hart Ranch was sold to D.C. Buntin and James Caldwell, who started a polo pony breeding operation and added buildings. Caldwell committed suicide in the wake of the Teapot Dome Scandal and the ranch was sold. Otto Clausen initially operated the ranch as a dude ranch from 1929, but the Great Depression reduced operations to subsistence farming. Clausen sold to T.H. and Ella Therkkildsen in 1944, who managed the ranch until they passed it on to their daughter Marge and her husband T.H. Richardson in 1974.
Description
The main house is a one-story log structure in three sections with interior log partitions. It retains its original character. Other structures include the 1910 polo barn, the so-called "damn good shed," built about 1930 in board-and-batten construction, a log cabin that was moved to the site in the 1930s from Fox Park, the log "Little Cabin," and the "Long Shed," also moved to the site from Fox Park. An intact section of the Overland Trail corduroy road is about 300 feet (91 m) north of the ranch complex.
Richardson's Overland Trail Ranch was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 5, 1992.
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ Francis, Julie; Carroll, Teri; Evans, Tim (June 1991). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Richardson's Overland Trail Ranch" (PDF). National Park Service.