BOUTON, Iowa (AP) – A more than $12,000 grant will soon allow archaeologists to research a 1850s party house in rural Dallas County. The Des Moines Register reports that the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs recently gave the Dallas County Conservation Board the grant for the project on the Dayton House’s 11-acre plot in Bouton.

The building was originally a stopover for stagecoach riders, but turned into a place for dancing, drinking and horse racing. The board’s historical and cultural resources coordinator Pete Malmberg says he hopes the property gains a National Register of Historic Places nomination from the project’s findings, which could include traces of two race tracks.

Bids for the archaeological survey will go out later this year. Malmberg says the house will open for rentals this spring or summer.