The General Store and Post Office operated in Gorham, North Dakota from 1917 to 1975.  The building was a donation by Mike Baranko of Fairfield, who operated the business for many years. The building was moved to its present site in June of 1984.

Gorham was a small town northwest of Dickinson.  It basically consisted of the general store, a bar, and a couple of houses for the respective business owners.  By the mid-1970s, these businesses had relocated to nearby Fairfield, and Gorham was only a ghost town.

A general store was an essential business in most communities, a predecessor to modern Wal-Marts and K-Marts where a person can buy just about anything.  In the early 1900s people would barter with the store owner as cash was often in short supply.  They would trade eggs, butter, cream and other farm produced goods for items they could not make themselves.  Sometimes stores would allow customers to use credit, but this was a substantial business risk in most communities.  Some businesses would issue trade coins (token coins, barter coins).  Trade coins were privately issued for a particular business.  They were usually made for small increments, such as 25¢ or $1.  This coin could only be redeemed at the store that issued it, for goods in the valued marked on the coin. 

In the early 1900s, a customer of a general store would tell the clerk what they wanted to purchase, and he or she would get it off the shelf and wrap it in paper and string.  People would often gather at the store to gossip and socialize.  Many stores would have a checker board set up near the stove to entertain the regulars.  All the food came in wooden crates or barrels.  Until the mid-1900s, few rural homes or businesses had electricity.  Kerosene was needed for lamps and was an important product sold at the general store.  Early automobile owners would buy their gas from the general store.  A general store often also served as the community’s post office.  The table in the Gorham store was known by regular customers as the “gossip table.”  It was common for the local farmers to come and have coffee and socialize here.  The prices displayed on the shelves are from the 1950s.  One of the store's cases was most likely used to hold meat, and has compartments for blocks of ice to keep the food cold.  Another one of the cases dates from a later time period, and is an electric-powered refrigerator case.  Also on display is an early GE refrigerator. 

*This building is accessible to visitors with disabilities.