Deer Park Hotel

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Deer Park Hotel was located near this site. Established in 1880, the roadhouse was a large building made of native logs. It was built just opposite the Niobrara River from the Fort Niobrara cantonment. The fort, also established in 1880, served the Sioux Indian reservation north of here in Dakota Territory.

In November 1882 the hotel was the site of the first election in what is now Cherry County. Congressman E.K. Valentine was in a race for reelection. Arrangements were made to solicit votes from railroad workers who were building Sioux City & Pacific rail line in the area. Men at the camp were sent to the polls by being offered transportation and time from work.

Valentine won the election. That fall, about four miles west on Minnechaduza Creek, a new town was named in his honor.

Deer Park Hotel soon faded from memory. When Cherry County was organized in 1883, Valentine became the county seat. That year, the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad arrived and the town boomed.