1969. 21901 E. Hampden Ave.
Reconstructed sod buildings, an agricultural museum, and 2,000 acres of virgin prairie sustaining deer, antelope, burrowing owls, prairie dogs, and rattlesnakes make this a wonderful retreat into the past. Exhibits include a tipi and a Grange museum. A facsimile sod house, one-room school, and blacksmith shop have been constructed from “bricks” cut out of the prairie. Measuring two feet by one foot by three inches, these bricks were stacked, grass side up, around a packed earth floor. Minimal wood framing forms doors and windows, set in place as the walls rose. Cottonwood poles and willow brush were topped with lightweight strips of sod for a roof. Mud was used to fill exterior crevices, and plaster or lime to plaster inside walls.