The Pony Express building is where in the 1880's the money would be brought in on a shotgun ridden stagecoach. The stagecoach was a very important part of the Wild West and operated for nearly 200 years. The Pony Express mail delivery service was only in operation for 18 months. Although being a financial flop, the Pony Express lost as much as $200,000.00 before it folded. It was in operation from April 1860 to October 1861 carrying mail from Kansas City to San Francisco. During its operation, the time it took to travel between the east to west coast was 10 days.

The Pony Express was synonymous with the Old West. In the era before mass communications, the Pony Express was the thread that tied the East to the West. Our Pony Express building was sponsored by Marguarete Gore in honor of her late husband, David Gore. She named it David Gores Patriot Express. David loved horses. He raised, rode & showed horses. He was an army veteran and was very patriotic of his country. This all together made for a fitting name for the Pony Express.

David & Marguarete were some of our first volunteers. The first Christmas that Cartwright Grove was open, Marguarete & David were there. Marguarete stated, "Hugh & Jill needed volunteers to help out at Cartwright Grove so David and I started helping". We enjoyed spending time in the General Store and I became pretty good at popping popcorn. (laughing) We spent many years volunteering.

In the summer of 2018, David passed away as a result of cancer. I didn't go back the next holiday, but in 2019, I went back to Cartwright Grove. That year they started building the Pony Express Building and I told Hugh I wanted to sponsor it in memory of David.