The Yankton Community Library and the Dakota Territorial Museum hosted their annual Cemetery Walk through the Yankton Municipal Cemetery Tuesday night. The tour included stops at the graves of six characters from Yankton’s history, where re-enactors shared biographical details and anecdotes from their lives on the frontier. The walk is a fundraiser for the museum. Photos by John Andrews.
Our May/June issue includes a feature on unique museums in West River South Dakota. We gathered several photos of our most eclectic collections. Here are some photos that didn’t make the magazine.
The first settlement in the Dimock area was in 1879, when a large group of German immigrants came from Wisconsin to South Dakota. They built a wooden church to accommodate their Catholic community, but in 1908 the church was destroyed by fire. The current Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church was built of lasting brick and stone in its place. The magnificent chapel, consecrated in October of 1909, is adorned with stained glass and canvas murals sent from Germany. Photos by Dan Ray.
Dan Ray shared recent photos of the former St. Mary’s convent and school just south of the tiny town of Zell. The convent was built in 1883 and is the mother site of the Benedictine Sisters in South Dakota, invited to the area by Bishop Martin Marty OSB, the Vicar Apostolic of Dakota Territory. Bishop Marty asked the sisters to open a school for parish children in 1886. An addition was built in 1912 and the sisters began farming the surrounding land in 1915 to support the school. The school eventually closed in 1963 and the 7-acre campus, which includes a church, two rectories and a small cemetery, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The site is now privately owned.
The fertile fields of Hutchinson County became a haven for ethnic Germans fleeing Russia in the 1870s. They had lived there for years, enticed by Catherine the Great to transform the region around the Black Sea into Europe’s breadbasket. She offered freedom from military service, but when Czar Alexander II rescinded that promise in 1871, the pacifist Germans sought new land. Several thousand emigrated to southeastern Dakota Territory beginning in 1873. By the end of the decade, Germans had established farms up the James River Valley to the Menno and Freeman areas, where their descendants still work the land. Joel Schwader, of Rapid City, grew up in Freeman. He visited his hometown this summer and shared these photos from rural Hutchinson County.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II and the 40th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end. Sioux Falls residents and area veterans commemorated the occasions with a special Flag Day ceremony at Veterans’ Memorial Park on June 14. Photos by Scott and Marilyn Korsten. See more of Scott’s work at InspiredByNatureImages.com.
Seth Bullock met Theodore Roosevelt during Roosevelt’s years on a North Dakota Ranch. The two remained friends during his presidency and Roosevelt appointed Bullock U.S. Marshall. Shortly after Roosevelt’s death in 1919, Bullock and the Society of the Black Hills Pioneers built Friendship Tower on what’s now known as Mount Roosevelt as a memorial to his friend. You can find the trailhead leading to the 31-foot tower on the north edge of Deadwood. Head out of town on Highway 85, take a left on Mount Roosevelt Road and follow it for about 2 1/2 miles to the trailhead, parking lot and picnic area. Photos by Ryan Clayton, Rapid City. See more of his work at www.facebook.com/imagesbyryan.
Joel Schwader, Rapid City, shared photos of the remains of Milltown Hutterite Colony in Hutchinson County. The colony was founded in 1886, but relocated to Elie, Manitoba, Canada in 1918. The remaining buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. “The craftsmanship of the buildings are a marvel to see,” Schwader says. “I spent the better part of three hours walking back in time, exploring a way of life that will never be again.” See more of Schwader’s work on Facebook.
130 years after her death, a First Lady of Dakota Territory was remembered Wednesday (Sept. 10) at the Yankton Cemetery. Amanda Pennington had been buried in an unmarked grave since her death at age 47 in 1884. Amanda’s husband John served as territorial governor from 1874 to 1878 and remained in Yankton as an active citizen for years. Photos by Bernie Hunhoff.
Sleigh bells were jingling at Fort Sisseton State Park’s Frontier Christmas last weekend. Visitors to the historic 1864 fort sang carols, tried old-fashioned crafts, took sleigh rides, and even rubbed elbows with Father Christmas himself. Photos by Christian Begeman.
