Ward County Historical Society moves the late Ervin Erickson’s pianos to Minot

MINOT, N.D. – A Bismarck piano man’s legacy and dream of establishing a piano museum has been rescued by the Ward County Historical Society after his death last June.

Ervin Erickson could never bear to see a piano – especially a player piano – sent to the dump and collected as many as 70 of them, said his sister, Enid Bachman.

“He fell in love with pianos,” said Bachman.

Erickson’s lifelong affinity began when he was in grade school and took piano lessons, said Bachman, and he had a dream of one day starting a piano museum.

When he passed away, his family tried to find a museum or historical society that would accept the pianos or an individual or business who might want to buy them.

Submitted Photo The Ward County Historical Society moved about 60 pianos that had once belonged to Ervin Erickson of Bismarck, who died in June 2020.

“We weren’t really having any luck selling them,” said Bachman. “It’s not a good market right now.”

It would also have cost the family to have the pianos taken to the dump, said Dan Caswell, a Ward County Historical Society board member, and Bachman said her family would have hated to see her brother’s lifelong work go to the local dump. The family put out some feelers in search of a historical society that might be willing to take possession of the pianos and the Ward County Historical Society answered the call.

The pianos they rescued are currently in storage in semi-trailers owned by Gary Price, said Caswell.

Caswell said one day the museum hopes to raise money to construct a separate building at its pioneer village in Burlington that would house only the pianos. There are only three museums devoted solely to pianos in the United States in Michigan, Maine, and New York. The Ward County Historical Society’s museum would make a fourth and would also complete Erickson’s dream.

Caswell said the historical society also hopes to construct another building that would house a collection of old TVs and radios and another building for its antique cars. The historical society has applied for grants and done some fundraising since the museum was relocated to Burlington from its former site at the North Dakota State Fairgrounds in Minot. Donations are particularly appreciated.

Ward County Historical Society moves the late Ervin Erickson’s pianos to Minot

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Ward County Historical Society moves the late Ervin Erickson’s pianos to Minot

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Man who told poIice he ‘deserves to suffer and doesn’t know why he did it’ after using a large bIade, a utiIity tooI and his fists to brutaIIy kiII his parent, then ran outside and yeIIed for her, is charged

Woman cIaims she was upset from deaIing with multiple issues throughout the day before she entered a room with a 12-year-old and a man, pointed her firearm at the aduIt and fired without warning, kiIIing him: police

Man who feIt pressured because he was Iiving with another woman who suspected him of infideIity after his girIfriend told him she was carrying his chiId, before he accused her of Iying, then Iured her and kiIIed her in her vehicIe, is convicted

Bismarck police recognize Red Ribbon Week to promote drug-free living and community awareness

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