Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park


The Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park is a Douglas County, Nevada, USA, park, preserving one of the state's first ranches.

History

The Dangberg Ranch was founded in 1857 by Heinrich Friedrich Dangberg, Sr. Dangberg built the ranch house, the first building on the ranch, in the early 1860s; a bunkhouse, cellar, and barn were added to the ranch in the 1870s. The ranch grew to and became the largest in the Carson Valley. The H. F. Dangberg Land and Livestock Company formed to manage the ranch's activities, which included ranching cattle, pigs, and horses, growing hay, and slaughtering both their own and other ranchers' animals. In the 1900s, Dangberg's son H. F. Dangberg, Jr., founded Minden on company land and commissioned most of its early buildings. A decade later, several more buildings were added to the ranch, including a slaughterhouse, cook's quarters, two garages, and a main gate. The Dangberg Company prospered until the Great Depression and remained in business at the ranch until 1978.
In 1960, Donald E. Bently bought some acreage in Carson Valley that had formerly been part of the Dangberg Ranch. He increased his holdings over the next two decades until he owned more than. He renamed the land Bently Ranch and raised beef cattle and alfalfa. Bently's son Christopher purchased the former Minden Flour Milling Company and the neighboring Minden Creamery built by the Dangburg family, and has converted them for use as the Bently Heritage Estate Distillery.
The ranch home was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 5, 1980.

Park

Some of the land is under the ownership of Douglas County and managed by the non-profit Friends of Dangberg Home Ranch. The county and state are in a joint effort to restore the historic buildings including the 15-room main residence. The park's buildings feature historic period artifacts. The ranch is located on Nevada State Route 88 west of Minden. Tours are available year-round.