Press Releases

The Nobles trail was the first federally-funded highway in South Dakota.

PIERRE, S.D.- Mentor Graham, who once lived in Blunt, S.D., is regarded as the greatest influence on President Abraham Lincoln during Lincoln’s school years in Salem, Ill.

It all started in 1881with a small cottonwood seedling planted in a hole left by a survey crew. The tiny seedling grew into a stately tree known as The Lone Tree.

Founded as the town at the end of the railroad, Faith was originally the hub of a South Dakota homestead boom from 1910-1920.

Fort Pierre, the oldest continuous white settlement in South Dakota, was named after American fur trader Pierre Choteau Jr. of St. Louis, Mo.

The Oahe Dam project was commissioned in 1944, and upon completion was the largest rolled-earth dam in the world. The reservoir is more than 200 miles in length and has in excess of 2,000 miles of shoreline.

During the Cold War era, South Dakota harbored 150 missile silos on its expansive western prairie. The destructive nuclear force acted as a deterrent to keep the peace for several decades.

Harvey Dunn was a famous American painter of western life, war scenes and portraits. The South Dakota native first studied art at State College in Brookings, S.D., before studying at the Art Institute in Chicago.

Beginning in 1882, Yankton College became the first accredited college in the Dakota Territory. Classes were originally held in the Congregational Church, but were later moved to a small three-room building until the Middle Building was erected in 1883.

In the 1930’s, the Stratosphere Bowl was selected as a launching location for two helium-filled balloons. The first balloon launch, known as Explorer I, was in 1934. The second and more successful launch with Explorer II occurred in 1935.

In the 1800’s, sod houses were the primary structure for homes on the Dakota prairie. The Dakota Territory began to offer free land to settlers who built dwellings and occupied the land for five years.

The vision for Mount Rushmore National Memorial started with Doane Robinson, a South Dakota state historian, as a way to increase tourism to South Dakota.

In 1885, the Dakota Territory was graced with the stately Mellette House. Arthur Calvin Mellette and his wife Margaret constructed the house for themselves and their four boys.

The USS South Dakota was the most decorated war ship of WWII and one of the most decorated U.S. battleships in history.

Jedediah Smith first ventured into Dakota Territory in the early 1800s.

Jedediah Smith first ventured into Dakota Territory in the early 1800s. He gained fame as a frontiersman and explorer, and may be acknowledged with mapping out and discovering much of western Dakota Territory.

The historic city of Deadwood derives its name from dead trees which engulfed the canyon at the time of its founding, but its legends are far from dead.

Dakota Territory was established in 1861. Shortly after, the Black Hills gold rush was booming and luring fortune seekers and entrepreneurs to the Dakotas by the thousands.

In 1804, at the time of Struck by the Ree’s birth, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were having council near his tribe’s encampment along the Missouri River.

Nestled between towering trees of the De Smet State Forest, the marshes of Silver Lake, and endless prairie grasses lays a little piece of land where the Ingalls family made their home.

In 1939, Cecil Clyde Gideon gained accreditation for designing the first set of pigtail bridges in the world.

Frank Bem sparked the start of Tabor, S.D., in 1869 by advertising land to Czechoslovakian settlers who were in search of a place to call home.

The Northern Divide, separate from the Great Divide, runs through the northeast corner of South Dakota, near Sisseton.

The first territorial legislature of Dakota located the University of Dakota at Vermillion on April 21, 1862.

On August 2, 1876, Jack McCall shot Wild Bill Hickok in the back at the No. 10 Saloon in Deadwood, S.D. Today, Wild Bill lies to rest at Mount Moriah Cemetery on Deadwood’s historic “Boot Hill”.

Jack McCall was hanged for the killing of James "Wild Bill" Hickok, shooting him from behind while he was playing poker at Saloon #10 in Deadwood in 1876.

The site of Fort Sisseton was chosen for its strong natural defense, among other factors.

Located behind Legion Lake in CusterState Park sits a four-room log cabin made of ponderosa pine and native rock.

Cowtowns flourished from 1867 until the 1890s when railroads ended the necessity for long cattle drives. By the 1870s, cattle drives resulted in dozens of other cowtowns, including Pierre, S.D.

The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 a as patriotic, mutual-help, war-time veterans organization.

Located two miles east of Custer is an open valley where history was made. This area served as the main base camp for General George Armstrong Custer’s expedition to find gold in the Black Hills. Their stay at the “Golden Valley,” as General Custer called it, lasted five days, the longest of any s

Medicine Rock was a landmark in its day.

On June 3, 1948, sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and Chief Henry Standing Bear decided to make their dream of carving a memorial to Crazy Horse a reality. This historic marker, located at the entrance of the memorial on Highway 16, describes why Lakota Chief Crazy Horse was chosen as the model/subject

Back in 1904, few towns had a high-faluting, Rolls Royce man, but Murdo Mackenzie was one of them and he could be found shipping trainload after trainload of Texas steers to the grasslands of South Dakota near present day Murdo.

In 1804, legend had it that Spirit Mound, near present day Vermillion, was inhabited by evil spirits in human form. Reportedly, these “little devils” were 18 inches high and armed with arrows.

In the center of Oakwood Lakes State Park sits a very interesting and historically significant log cabin.

Rockerville was the place to be in 1876 due to the discovery of gold. By 1880, it was booming with hundreds of buildings and a population of around a thousand.

The Falls of the Big Sioux River have long been the focus of life in the southeast region of South Dakota. Today, they are a tourist destination and a place to relax and unwind.

The legend of Hugh Glass, a hard-working fur trapper, dates back to August 1823 in present day Perkins County.

The first settlers within the present boundaries of South Dakota were French fur traders.

North of the town of South Shore, alongside Highway 20, sits a lone lake. Like other lakes and areas of the northeast region, its name derived from a Native American legend. The historic marker at this site describes this legend, and how the lake got its name.

Union County, South Dakota, is home to the first election in the northwestern portion of the United States and dates back to the early 1800s.

In 1959, the geographic center of the United States of America found its home in northwestern South Dakota.

Many people believe the South Dakota west began in the Black Hills. This is not necessarily the case. Early on, the west began where a new settlement had ended. Soon, the “new west” was defined by social customs and economics rather than geographic boundaries.