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Battling 1880 Towns?

October 13, 2008

The Oct. 13-19, 2008 Sight of the Week is a great attraction we happened upon. Through Visitor Tips, we’d been aware for years of the Original 1880 Town in Murdo, South Dakota, a reconstruction of a prairie frontier community, with a bonus display of Dances with Wolves movie props. In August, driving west on I-90, we spotted a series of billboards pleading with us to turn at the next exit to see the “1880s Town” — and this was hundreds of miles before we were anywhere near Murdo.

We’d have skipped it due to our tight schedule (and likelihood it was a small collection of boring restored buildings). But we noted one billboard promising “electronic animated displays” or something to that effect. Had to be investigated.

Turns out it’s another 1880 town, officially labeled 1880 Cowboy Town. And it was the craziest thing we’d seen in a long time. Read our story. This attraction is in one of the sweet spots on the Arc of Decay (a path along which single visionary attractions inevitably travel), so we can’t promise it will be the same as when we saw it.

Our video provides an extremely narrow glimpse of what might be in store for those who make the trip.

Later that day we arrived at the Original 1880 Town. It wasn’t bad, movie props as promised, and faithfully restored historic buildings. But it was no 1880 Cowboy Town.

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