Encountering Fort Totten
Immerse yourself in history! Choose to follow a soldier, a young female Chippewa student, a teacher, or a teenage male Dakota student as you tour the fort grounds. These self-guided itineraries will allow you to experience life at Fort Totten as that person might have lived it. All four characters are based on oral histories collected from Spirit Lake tribal members and other 19th- and 20th-century accounts. The commissary storehouse building will introduce you to the fort during its time as a military post (1867-1890), a boarding school for American Indians (1891-1935; 1940-1959), and a tuberculosis preventorium (1935-1939). Also included is a section on the preservation of the fort by the State Historical Society North Dakota. Fort Totten has long been considered one of the best-preserved frontier military posts west of the Mississippi River.
The following slideshow features a preview of what visitors can experience at the Encountering Fort Totten exhibit.
Address:
417 Cavalry Circle
Fort Totten, ND 58335
Get Directions
Winter Hours (Tuesday of Labor Day Weekend-Memorial Day Weekend):
Weekdays by appointment only
Summer Hours (Memorial Day Weekend-Labor Day):
Daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Grounds are open year-round, Monday - Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Contact Fort Totten:
phone: 701.766.4441
email: shstotten@nd.gov
Contact SHSND:
phone: 701.328.2666
email: history@nd.gov