1882 Dakota Territory Vacation Home

In 1982, on the one-hundredth birthday of what is now the 1882 Dakota Territory Vacation Home, Gayle Newberg, former owner, spoke for the home:

“I’m celebrating my birthday…just one hundred years ago today my builder and owner walked through the front door of his “comfortable and commodious” new brick home on “upper Custer Avenue.” His name was Patrick McHugh, owner of a saloon and brick yard, and president of the board of trustees of Custer City, Dakota Territory.”

“I sit firmly on a side hill on lot 5, block 34. Actually, I started out with a quarter block of yard, but I’ve been crowded onto this little lot. My 17-inch (thick) walls sit on a wide foundation of rock. They are built of two courses of brick with space in between. Every sixth row is placed endwise to tie them firmly. Where my owner got his windows, doors, and hardware and woodwork, I haven’t a guess, but I have always been proud that they match those in the equally new courthouse down the street a block and a half.”

“On July 13, 1882, Pat gave me to his wife, Rosa.” Poor Pat, it’s good that he built well. I was pretty shaken to learn that, as a result of a judgment against him by Messers, Plunkett and Lynch of Pennington County; I was to be auctioned off from the courthouse steps at 10 a.m. Sept. 28, 1883, by Sheriff John Code and his deputy, H.N. Ross.”

“I was bought by Buell R. Wood for $462.72, who promptly “gave” me to his wife. The Woods made me nervous. They mortgaged me 13 times between 1883 and 1907. The last was to Anna M. Courtney and she got me. Turns out she was married to William Courtney. It took Anna six years to clear my name, even though she made “valuable improvements”. In fact the Woods were still making legal claims until 1919, when Anna and her husband sold me to Julia and Frank Gira who turned me over to George Hitch. You may remember the Hitches…related to the Kidwells, I do. They added on my front porch! It was pretty fancy, if a bit too narrow for much use. Really dressed me up though…I felt like a fine lady.”

“Well, George gave me to his wife, Nellie. In 1941, Widow Hitch sold me to Carl Sundstrom, a single man…ran a newspaper, I’ve heard. Carl, by his attorney-in-fact, J.L. Sundstrom, sold me to L.D. and Signa Pitts (saved having to give it to her) in 1945. Lon (Pitts) built a fancy house on the corner and sold me to Harvey Robertson. Harvey and Minnie took good care of me for many peaceful years. In 1972, they reluctantly entrusted me to some old friends, Winston and Gayle Newberg. I was her birthday present!”

“These people! They never let me rest. They kept my innards in an uproar…always changing something. That first operation I nearly collapsed from, and ever since, I just get settled and they decide I need another surgery. It’s painful but sort of interesting. Keeps me from getting old.”

Since 1982, the house was purchased by the Gausman family, Chet and Mary, and Kris and Gretchen Gosch. They have also shaken its bricks and timber with a complete modernization of the interior by Black Hills Design and Construction. Its present owners are Bob and Sarah Kopp, owners of Surroundings (located in the oldest stick built building in Custer City and renovated by the Kopps) and MainStreet, a new and exciting mini mall in downtown Custer to be completed in August of 2005.

The 123 year old Romanesque Revival home is located at 241 M. Rushmore Road, formally known as “upper Custer Avenue”.

History of the 1882 Dakota Territory Vacation Home

History of the 1882
Dakota Territory
Vacation Home