What began as a dream to bring a classic carousel to Minot is now becoming a community restoration project with a long history, a difficult rebuild, and the hope of giving future generations one of childhood’s most memorable first rides.

A Classic Carousel Comes to Minot
Carousels have been popular as entertainment for kids, and even adults, since the beginning of travelling circuses and carnivals. Through the early efforts and vision of the Railroad Museum of Minot, a carousel was purchased and originally set up in Roosevelt Park in an area that once was the home to Lunder’s Kiddieland.

Notes from various Minot Park Board meetings talk about how the Railroad Museum would originally purchase the carousel for $55,000.00 and asked the Park Board to forgive the 15% commission paid by the Minot Railroad Museum on revenues from their activities in Roosevelt Park, including the Magic City Express, until the carousel was paid for.

At one meeting, as a reporter for a local television station, I remember Railroad Museum board members, Bill Dollar, Bud Crilly and Al Korom, bringing in one of the horses from the carousel to show the board. The horse was certainly in disrepair, needing to be sanded and re-painted before returning to the carousel, which would be located on the north end of Roosevelt Park in the Kiddyland area.

The carousel would be operated by the Railroad Museum for 4-5 years in Roosevelt Park starting in 1991, but seemed to disappear from the landscape about 1997, and was probably in storage until the Ward County Historical Society took ownership in 2019.

From Storage to the Ward County Historical Society
Susan Gessner of the Ward County Historical Society shared background on the carousel’s journey and its place in U.S. carousel history.

“In 2019 the Ward County Historical Society acquired an Allan Herschell 36-foot, 20 horse, 2 chariot classic carousel from the Minot Park District. The Allan Herschell Company is a famous name in U.S. carousel history. It was the most prolific make of carousels but also manufactured other amusement rides. The company closed in 1970, selling its assets to the Chance Manufacturing Company of Topeka, Kansas. Chance Manufacturing, incorporated in 1961, would eventually become Chance Rides Manufacturing, which is still in existence.
“The carousel was forty-five years old by the time it was brought to Minot in 1991. Little is known about the first forty-five years.”

Gessner has crafted a very detailed journey the carousel took since its arrival in Minot. The journey started with the Railroad Museum of Minot and then, after the museum was not able to run and maintain the carousel, to the Minot Park District. The Park District voted to order more than $8,900.00 in new parts for the carousel but never reconstructed it with those parts. The carousel then went to a warehouse owned by the park district, where it would be stored for at least a decade and would endure the 2011 flood, before eventually coming to the Ward County Historical Society.

“One day I was talking to Ron Merrit from the Minot Park District,” continues Dan Caswell, President of the Ward County Historical Society, “and I asked him about the old carousel from Roosevelt Park. He said that the carousel was being stored in one of their warehouses and quickly asked if I wanted it?” For a historical buff like Caswell, that is all it took to pass ownership of the carousel from one entity to the other.

The Restoration Challenge
“We’ve always had a goal of bringing the old carousel back to life out here in the Pioneer Village,” continues Caswell, “but we knew from the beginning we would have the same challenge as the Railroad Museum folks, all of the horses need to be re-finished, and that’s a big job.”

Volunteer hours aside, there is also a large challenge on the horizon for the WCHS. “It’s going to take around $400,000.00 to rebuild the carousel, and then we’d like to construct a building around the carousel so that it would be protected from the weather,” says Caswell.

One of the newly re-finished horses is on display in the Visitor’s Center at the Pioneer Village, and volunteer Karen Heusers still has a couple of the horses in her garage in various states of sanding and re-painting. “I think my eyesight will leave me a bit short of finishing any more horses,” adds Heuser, “so we really need some more volunteers that are willing to take on refinishing the final few horses so we can get the carousel running this year.”

Now that the carousel belongs to the WCHS and is in the process of being re-assembled and brought back to operating condition, Caswell feels that there is a chance to garner more community support for the carousel in the future. “We really do have a plan for the carousel, but as an example there are 6 timbers in the top of the carousel that have to be replaced because the carousel was damaged in the 2011 flood. These timbers are expensive and, of course, you just don’t go out and buy them anywhere,” says Caswell, “but our volunteers will certainly figure out a way to get them.”

Preserving a Ride for Future Generations
Looking at the pile of parts, and the photos of the horses as they are being repaired, it is certainly easy to understand the challenge that the WCHS has in bringing the carousel back to life. Research on the carousel by Gessner would suggest that in 2026 the carousel would be 80 years old. Hopefully the carousel will be rebuilt and maintained for the next 80 years for future generations to enjoy.

“You know, not a lot of kids are familiar with these old rides like the carousel,” adds Caswell. “It used to be that the Merry Go Round, what we called it, was one of the first rides a kid would experience. Mom and Dad would ride along and hold the kids up on the horses.”

As the rebuild project progresses, passersby the Pioneer Village will be able to see the new carousel location develop. Located just a few yards to the southwest of the current Visitor’s Center, the carousel will certainly be a welcome addition to the Pioneer Village.

How to Help
The carousel’s restoration will depend on continued volunteer effort, community support, and donations to help preserve this piece of local history. Should you want to donate to the carousel project, you can contact the Ward County Historical Society at (701) 839-0785.