Tag: 125 celebration

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125 Years on Canvas

By John Andrews

South Dakota means something different to all of us. As we celebrate our state’s 125th birthday this year, a collection of artists have put their interpretations of life in South Dakota into a special exhibit currently on display at the Center for Western Studies in Sioux Falls. “South Dakota 2014 Art Exhibit and Sale: Observing the State’s 125th Anniversary” is a juried show highlighting the works of 40 artists from around the state. Each piece tackles themes of statehood from a personal angle.

There’s an amazing array of diversity throughout the exhibit. Artists painted rural landscapes and city scenes, ranch crews and depictions of Native American life. The exhibit runs through Sept. 27 in the Center’s Simmons/Madsen/Nelson/Elmen galleries. Here’s a small sampling of what you’ll find on display:

La Hoo-Catt, by George Prisbe-Przybysz, depicts the Missouri River as it was originally surveyed by William Clark in 1804.

Bear Creek Branding, by Ariadne Albright, is based on a vintage photograph of cowboys working on a Harding County ranch in the 1930s.

Cave Hills Twilight, by Peter Kilian, showcases the beauty of Harding County’s unique landscape.

Toronto Morning Patterns, by Gary Steinley, portrays a scene at the Toronto grain elevator.

United, by Ron Backer, shows the Fort Pierre railroad depot, which is currently under restoration at the Verendrye Museum in Fort Pierre after years as a storage shed and sheep shearing facility on a local farm.

Pow-Wow Dancer, by Dennis Linn, features a young dancer preserving his Lakota culture.

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First Lady of Territory Deserves Better

By Katie Hunhoff

Amanda Kate Pennington left the two small graves of her children Willie and Kate in Alabama when she came to Yankton, Dakota Territory in 1874 with her husband, John, who was named Territorial Governor by President Ulysses S. Grant. They had three other children, however, and so she adjusted to life as an active and enthusiastic Dakotan.

But the Penningtons suffered anew when Amanda grew ill and died in 1884 at her home, an Italianate-style brick home at Third and Pearl in downtown Yankton. Since 1987, the Pennington House has been the headquarters for South Dakota Magazine.

John Pennington was a Southern newspaperman during the Civil War. He gained General Ulysses S. Grant’s trust and attention by editorializing that the South was paying too great a price and should consider surrender. When Grant became president, he awarded Pennington the governorship of Dakota Territory.

Pennington survived as governor for four years (1874-1878), double the tenure of most territorial leaders. He was sympathetic to the concerns of farmers and Native Americans and considered a capable fellow, but he became identified with the infamous”Yankton Ring” that mastered the spoils system. For example, when Pennington County was created in 1875, the governor named Yanktonians to serve as county officers. His friends collected salaries without moving west to perform their duties.

After leaving office, Pennington remained in Yankton. He published a weekly newspaper and built a substantial commercial building downtown. He became a full-fledged South Dakotan after serving as territorial governor.

Sioux Falls historian Gary Conradi recently completed a search for all of our governors’ graves. He assumed that Mrs. Pennington was buried in Alabama, but when he found six Pennington grave lots in the Yankton Cemetery, he searched the Yankton Press and Dakotan archives for her obituary. It noted that she was indeed buried in the Yankton Cemetery, though the family intended to move the grave home to Alabama so she could rest alongside her deceased children. But it was not easy to move a loved one’s remains in the 1880s, and it never happened. Eventually her husband and three surviving children, Lulu, Mary and John Jr., left without her. Of the six Pennington plots in the Yankton Cemetery, only one was ever used. Amanda rests there alone today, without a stone or any recognition.

In this 125th birthday year for South Dakota, a group of Yanktonians and state historians intend to right an old wrong by placing a headstone on Amanda’s grave befitting a first lady of the territory. It will include the names of her five beloved children. A memorial service will be held at the grave on Sept. 10 with Episcopalian Bishop John Tarrant presiding.

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Searching for the “Oldest”

By Katie Hunhoff

Imagine what South Dakota looked like when our state was created 125 years ago. Every road was made of dirt except a few streets of stone. A few grand courthouses and church steeples rose above log cabins and sod homes. The open prairie was largely treeless. But hope and excitement for the future of the new state could probably be felt in the air.

It makes us wonder how many physical relics have survived the last 125 years. In honor of our state’s anniversary we want to find the state’s oldest places and things and print them in South Dakota Magazine this fall. We’ve kicked around several categories (oldest fence, church, barn, tree, business, newspaper, bridge, log cabin, street, opera house, boat, restaurant, schoolhouse, celebration, pow wow, jail, bar or pub, West River ranch, East River farm, band, railroad depot and piece of art). We’re hoping our readers can offer even more ideas.

Each selection should match two criteria: it must have existed in 1889 (the year South Dakota became a state) and must remain or be in operation to this day. In the end the feature will be both a travel guide and a reminder that some of our state’s original artifacts are here for us to observe and protect.

In our 29 years of publishing South Dakota Magazine, we have come across a few things that have been proclaimed “oldest.” Flandreau has the state’s oldest church still in operation. The First Presbyterian Church still celebrates services in a 141-year-old church building. The church itself was established four years earlier in 1869.

The Bon Homme Hutterite Colony was created in the 1870s, making it the oldest colony of dozens that exist today. Located on the Missouri River south of Tabor, the colony still uses some of its earliest buildings made from chalk rock. One is an old carpenter shop. Another is a large stone building with a full-length arched-roof cellar where Hutterite women store hundreds of gallon jars of fruits and vegetables.

Among the oldest West River ranches is the Landers’ operation in Fall River County. William Landers, a German immigrant and mason, homesteaded the land in 1885, and the men and women of the Landers family have raised cattle there ever since. “He was a progressive rancher,” his grandson, Tom, told us in 1999. “He was the first to build fences and dams. And he was the first to spread the water out. He developed a ditch-style irrigation system that we still use today.”

William arrived in South Dakota with a mule, his wife, two sons and some cattle. His other mule died on the trail, so he hooked a steer to the wagon to finish the long journey. He grew his cattle herd to over 500 head before dying of pneumonia in 1904. He left behind three sons who divided the ranch into three parts. Reminders of the ranch’s past remain intact, including several homesteaders’ shacks that are used as farm sheds. Grandpa Landers’ old steel plow decorates a flower garden. When William’s descendants walk the land he homesteaded, I doubt they can see much changed in the last 129 years.

We have leads on log cabins, stone fences, historic trees and other such things. Birthdays are always fun, but they really get interesting at 125 years. You can suggest 125-year-old artifact ideas to South Dakota Magazine editors by emailing editor@southdakotamagazine.com or calling (800) 456-5117.