The Frances C. and William P. Smallwood Foundation has awarded a grant to the nonprofit Friends of Dangberg Home Ranch to assist the organization in its work operating and restoring the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park, located just outside of Minden.
The park is operated by Friends of Dangberg Home Ranch, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, in cooperation with Douglas County. More information about membership and the park’s programming is at dangberghomeranch.org.
“The Smallwood Foundation trustees were pleased with the continuing progress the Friends of Dangberg has made at the historic park,” said Suzy Stockdale, a Minden resident and Smallwood Foundation chairman and trustee. “Since its inception, the organization has continued to grow, expanding its community programming and making improvements. We’re proud to support their work preserving and sharing our valley’s history.”
This is the sixth consecutive year the Friends of Dangberg has received a Smallwood Foundation grant. The gift of $13,000 will pay for much of the park’s core operating expenses, including telecommunications, music licensing, marketing costs, and a portion of staff wages.
The Frances C. and William P. Smallwood Foundation was established following the death of Mr. Smallwood in April 1968. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Smallwood resided and worked in Dallas, where he was a co-founder of First Southwest Company, a prominent regional investment banking firm specializing in public finance, bond underwriting, and the raising of capital for developing regional companies.
The establishment of the foundation represented the culmination of the Smallwoods’ lifelong support of a broad range of charitable organizations. In addition to the Friends of Dangberg, the foundation has awarded grants to several other non-profits and other organizations in Carson Valley.
“We’re so pleased to have the support of Ms. Stockdale and the Smallwood Foundation,” said Howard Bennett, president of the Friends of Dangberg. “With the help of such grants and the support of our members, we’ve made remarkable progress towards achieving our goals, including landscaping improvements and restoration work. We encourage everyone in Carson Valley and beyond to learn more about the park and its history, as well as attend the events offered throughout the Dangberg Summer Festival.”
The Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park, at 1450 Highway 88, just north of the Carson Valley Animal Hospital, is the 2012 and 2013 Reno-Tahoe Territory winner of the Nevada Commission on Tourism’s “Discover Your Nevada” contest. The site preserves the home of Heinrich F. Dangberg and his descendants, a prominent ranching family in Carson Valley history that founded Minden in 1905. The site includes eight historic structures built between 1857 and 1917, along with a collection of 39,000 artifacts, documents and photographs acquired and used by the Dangberg family. Programs include tours, exhibits, wedding rentals, and other public events.
More information is at dangberghomeranch.org.