If you have a hankering for history and a few million bucks lying around, perhaps you would be interested in buying a town.
Garryowen, Montana – known as the site where the Battle at Little Bighorn reportedly began – is for sale and will likely go on the auction block this spring.
Christopher Kortlander currently owns and operates the town, which is home to the Custer Battlefield Museum, Garryowen Trading Post, a Federal Post Office, Conoco Gas Station, convenience store, Subway sandwich shop, Historical Rarities and a rest area. It also is the location for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, who is believed to be one of the first victims of the Battle at Little Bighorn and whose body was found when Interstate 90 was being built. The granite tomb was dedicated during the Burial of the Hatchet Ceremony in 1926 at Garryowen, during the 50th Anniversary of the battle.
For a cool $6.5 million, the 5-acre purchase includes three buildings, the grounds, and water and mineral rights. A 3,900- square-foot luxury penthouse tops the 8,000-square-foot main building, and a private, stockade-fenced compound houses an office and three guest suites. While the site is historic, its amenities are definitely modern: all buildings have wireless Internet, integrated mainframe phone system, and central heating and cooling with all building components metered separately for propane and electricity. Every building also has a comprehensive remotely monitored alarm system.
The town may have the most history, but it is certainly not the first town to go on the auction block. In 2007, Bobby Cave put a $2.5 million price tag on his 13-acre town of Albert, Texas, in an attempt to auction it off on eBay. According to http://www.alberttexas.com/, Cave has reduced the asking price to $883,000.
Five years ago, the town of Monse, Wash., covering 60 acres with seven houses, an old school house, a general store and post office, all platted into 100 parcels, went up for sale. The owners couldn’t find someone to buy the entire town, so they agreed to divvy it up and have since sold a handful of parcels, though the majority of the property is still for sale.
Bridgeville, Cali., the former Pony Express stop, sold on eBay in 2002 and went up for sale again in 2007. It is currently listed on eBay for $1.75 million.
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