Dangberg Home Ranch Endowment

The Dangberg family were living on the ranch home as Nevada became a state. Through a new endowment fund with the Community Foundation, the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park will build a stream of income to help maintain the park for generations of Nevada citizens. Once a private ranch, now a public park and popular Carson Valley event venue for Chautauqua, Concert Series, Sunday Morning Authors,  Ferris Family Speaker Series and weddings reflecting the love of the West, this local historical park has been named  a "Nevada Treasure" two years in a row. The Home Ranch The house that stands here was built by a family that played an important role in the growth and shaping of Carson Valley, Nevada. Heinrich Friedrich Dangberg was only eighteen when he came to America in 1848. He came west in 1856, where he built a log cabin, cleared and irrigated his land claim, and married Margaret Ferris, the daughter of a noted American family. A self-made man, his hard work, foresight and leadership lead to prosperity and influence. The cabin grew into a house as he and Maggie raised five children, who inherited one of the largest ranches in western Nevada. In 1902, the family formed the Dangberg Land and Livestock Co. and over the next few decades the second generation expanded the family’s holdings to almost 50,000 acres supporting cattle and sheep production, along with vegetable crops and other products. In 1905, the family founded the town of Minden and there, in partnership with other ranchers, established several businesses focused on agriculture, banking and a hotel. Today, the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park preserves this essential chapter in Nevada’s history. The Family and the Collection Four generations of Dangbergs lived at the Home Ranch, and they each help in understanding the changes that occur in the histories of American ranching families. They also left a fascinating collection of artifacts, photographs and documents dating from the early 19th century all the way to 1990.