Pioneer Auto Museum and Antique Town, Murdo, South Dakota

Murdo, South Dakota
PIONEER AUTO MUSEUM and A. J. “Dick” Geisler are a single thought in the minds of many who have visited and had the chance to know the man with the ever-present cigar. A Valentine present to German immigrant parents, Dick knew he and the family farm were not cut out for each other. He attended a rural school near New Ulm, Minnesota much like the one that is part of the museum. After high school his mother’s plans for business college for her son were interrupted by a job selling for the Jewel Tea Company, and other sales ventures. In 1923 he and a friend drove a Ford like the one to be seen in the Ford Garage from Minnesota to California taking odd jobs along the way to finance the trip.
In California he met and married Vivian Petersen who had traveled to California with her three sisters. The three Geisler children were born in Pasadena where “Dick” was operating the feed, hardware and appliance business he started in the height of the depression. In 1942 Mr. Geisler traded his California home for a farm near Blunt, South Dakota, sold the businesses and returned to the Midwest.
Crops had been nonexistent for some years prior to his move to South Dakota and the natives were amused at the West coast city dude who busily went about planting wheat. The Geisler touch and ideal conditions brought about the first of many banner years for crops in the area.
In 1945 “Dick” bought a John Deere Chevrolet dealership in Murdo and moved his family once again. In 1950 he opened the Phillips 66 gas station at the junction of U.S. 16 and 83. The embryo of the PIONEER AUTO MUSEUM took shape in the form of an old buggy and a 1913 Ford Peddler’s Wagon (now located in the Ford Garage) which were parked in front of the station and elicited considerable comment from tourists. As the years rolled by a vintage car here and an antique there were added to “Dick’s” small but growing collection. Dick’s son, John, made the first trip to pick up a car back east. Upon returning, John told his father about other cars to be had. By ones and twos the collection grew to where something had to be done to properly store and show the cars.