Dance set at Fort Assinniboine

Havre Daily News staff

An Oktoberfest celebration is set Saturday, Oct. 7, in the Hop Room at Fort Assinniboine to raise funds to restore the historic building.

Lynda Taplin of the Fort Assinniboine Preservation Association said the old-fashioned event will raise money to restore the Hop Room, located on the fort about six miles southwest of Havre on U.S. Highway 87.

The association has worked for decades to restore the fort, which is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

The fort, one of the largest west of the Mississippi River, was commissioned at the tail end of the Indian Wars after the Battle of Little Big Horn and the Battle of the Bear Paws. It was first garrisoned in 1879 and its reservation encompassed hundreds of thousands of acres.

It’s soldiers included the 10th Cavalry, known to history as the Buffalo Soldiers, with then-Lt. John “Blackjack” Pershing, later the general commanding allied forces in World War I.

The fort was decommissioned in 1911, and in 1915 became home to the Northern Agricultural Research Center of Montana State University. The research center has completed new, modern facilities to use for office space and research, opening up some of the historic buildings at the fort, including the Hop Room, to be added to the tours of the fort and restored.

The Hop Room was the recreation area for the officers at the fort, and Taplin said the preservation association is holding the fundraiser to continue work to restore the building.

The Oktoberfest will include food, drinks including a cash bar, dancing, raffles and a special square dance demonstration at the fort. The raffle will include a firearm of the winner’s choice and a gift certificate from Gary & Leo’s Fresh Foods.