Small town of Dawson staying relevant
Inforum.com | By Wendy Reuer | August 29, 2011
DAWSON, N.D. – Motorists on Interstate 94 could pass this town in an instant.
With only an exit sign to guide them, few are likely to realize booming business and exotic endevors are taking shape behind what appears to be just clusters of trees and more of the expansive prairie that rolls across the flat lands of the area.
Yet, behind the trees, just two miles south of the heavily traveled freeway, many of the 61 residents are learning how to hinge a future on their past. The historically agriculture-based town is not only growing in modern farming, but entrepreneurs are using the central location – exactly halfway between Bismarck and Jamestown – to help create a tourism industry and future for the small community.
“For the amount of people that are here, it’s very progressive,” Naomi Turner, owner of Prairie Rose Realty said. “Everybody is doing something big.”
Downtown, the Veterans Memorial Park houses a stone wall memorialized with the names of local soldiers and a real M60 World War II tanker.
Across the street, Kemmet’s Grocery has sold food, necessities and gasoline for more than 30 years.
Owned by Sara and Richard Nuestel, the couple also rent out a connected café and service station.
“As a rule, we do just fine,” Sara Nuestel said.
One bar remains open for entertainment on Main Street.
South Central Therapeutic Massage operates on the north edge of town, in a former gas station first opened in the 1940s. The original gas pumps remain outside, repainted as a tribute to the building’s history.
An outhouse can still be seen nearby.
Across the street from the park, an organic fruit and vegetable garden is ripe for the picking from customers.
“It’s a pretty cute little town,” said Jen Johnson who stopped at the city park with a group of friends on their way east to the Twin Cities. “We like to stop here because it helps break up that long stretch from Bismarck.”
Keith Draeger, owner and chef of the Big D restaurant south of town, near Lake Isabel, renovated an 1887 Victorian home and moved it to Dawson. The Queen Anne Victorian is now rented out to hunters, honeymooners or anyone looking for a unique getaway. Draeger also operates “The Lodge,” a 1917 Arts & Crafts Bungalow on the north end of town.
“It just seems like everybody in that town has a little business,” Turner said.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Wendy Reuer at (701) 241-5530
