Old Courthouse Museum
Make time for history at the Old Courthouse Museum. This beautifully-restored 1800s quartzite building has three floors of regional history exhibits. The Museum store includes unique and affordable Dakota-made gifts for the whole family.
Free admission. Free parking. Wheelchair accessible. Open daily. Call (605) 367-4210 ext. 0 or email for more information about current exhibits and fun, educational programs for all ages. Click Here for more Information.
Pettigrew Home and Museum
Welcome to the Past! Tour the elegant 1889 Queen Anne-style home of South Dakota's first senator, Richard Pettigrew. Take a guided tour of the historic home, or browse the museum galleries and discover the Sioux Falls of the late 1800s.
Free admission. Free parking. Wheelchair accessible. Open Monday through Sunday. Call (605) 367-7097 or email for more information. Click Here for more Information.
The Legacy of Silver
When the first colonists arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 they were looking for silver, along with other precious metals. The value of silver was so great that those adventurers were willing to travel across an ocean to find it. Silver had long been desirable in Europe as a decorative way to display wealth, but the American colonists would have to import the majority of their silver for another 150 years, until the discovery of the Comstock Lode in 1857 in Nevada. This new source of material, combined with the development of electroplated silver in the 1840s, fueled the rise of some of America's most famous silver manufacturers, including Tiffany & Co., Roger Bros., and Reed & Barton. Click Here for more Information.
The Art of Architecture: Selections From the Perkins, McWayne & McLaughlin Collection
In 1918 Robert A. Perkins and Albert McWayne formed Perkins & McWayne, Architects and Engineers. For the next 36 years the firm, with Perkins as primary architect and McWayne as primary engineer, designed structures to house the activities of business, education, government, communities and private individuals. Their
buildings can be found throughout the state of South Dakota, but also in southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa. When Perkins retired from practice in 1954, Earl McLaughlin took over as principal architect, and the firm continued as McWayne & McLaughlin until 1976. Click Here for more Information.
The Grand Army of the Republic:
A Civil War Veterans’ Organization
Opens January 17th at the Old Courthouse Museum
A year after our nation's Civil War ended, an organization for Union veterans was established. Exploring bonds of comradeship, loyalty, and charity, the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) became a fraternal group which stretched across local, regional, and national lines. Limited in membership to those men who served between 1861-1865, the G.A.R. had a finite life. The men of the G.A.R. left a lasting legacy to the nation with the creation of veteran pensions, soldiers' homes, and Memorial Day being among their many accomplishments. Counting approximately one million members throughout its existence, the G.A.R. developed into a formidable political lobbying group.
As a fraternal group, the G.A.R. gathered together for social events, including local and national 'encampments,' which were run in a military fashion but included fun and entertainment for wives and children. Local posts raised money for charities and disabled comrades and made political endorsements. Many cities and counties across the northern United States preserve relics from the G.A.R. including monuments, buildings, funerary markers, and small objects and personal papers often found in local museums. BOYS IN BLUE highlights the legacy of this important group that set the precedent for future veterans' organizations.
Funding for this exhibit was provided by the 13th Infantry, Co. D, Inc. and the Mary Chilton Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution through the Mary Chilton DAR Foundation, Sioux Falls, S.D. Click Here for more Information.
Let's Get Hitched: The Road To Matrimony
We'll be hearing wedding bells this fall at the Old Courthouse Museum. On October 25th, Let’s Get Hitched! The Road to Matrimony will open with a reception from 5-7 p.m. Encompassing over 100 years of bridal gowns as well as wedding invitations, marriage certificates, photographs, and other objects, the exhibit will trace the development of the traditional white wedding we are familiar with today. Topics will include floral decoration, jewelry, bridesmaids and groomsmen, bridal showers, receptions, and the cake. You may even be able to help us identify some of our local "mystery" brides! Come down to the Museum and help us celebrate the story of matrimony in the Midwest. Click Here for more info.
Vactioning in America
Vacationing in America has developed greatly over the last 150 years. Originally a privilege for only the very wealthy, early vacations and periods of relaxation took place at spas where the sick would go to "take the waters," and activities for their healthy family members abounded. With the growth of the middle class at the end of the 19th century, more people began to visit spas and other nearby destinations, though usually through less-expensive means. As more Americans began traveling, the market and demand for vacations grew.
With the advent of railroads, vacation leave for workers, and the forty hour work week, the possibility of traveling across the continent became, for many, a reality. Railroads helped develop America's national parks as an enticement for people to travel on their lines. They also introduced much of the West to the rest of the country. By the early 1900s, with the invention of automobiles and the newly-built roads to drive them on, vacations became a more personal experience as people chose exactly when, where, and for how long they wanted to travel.
Vacationing in America, explores these patterns of early vacations in the United States, showing that, while methods have changed, the desire to travel, relax, and explore new and different places has remained a constant.
Fur Trade: Top Hats, Beads, and Buffalo Hides
This exhibit examines how trappers, traders and companies from England, France, Spain, and America, and even the national governments of those countries, became involved in the business of supplying furs to Europe and America, specifically through trade with the native people who lived in the Upper Missouri River Valley in present-day South Dakota. Over approximately 200 years (c. 1660-1860), the fur trade spread and grew from its focus on beaver in Canada south into the Great Plains, where for its last 30 years it centered on buffalo hides. In those two centuries, French and British explorers from Canada, French and Spanish from the Louisiana colony, and American businessmen from the east slowly established posts and forts in the Dakotas. From these stations the new arrivals quickly attempted to establish relations with the native Indian inhabitants, who had engaged in inter-tribal trade for generations.
All participants on both sides filled important and diverse roles in the complex system of trade, but the main transaction remained a relatively simple one: the exchange of beaver, raccoon, fox, mink, muskrat, deer, bear, and buffalo skins for “trade goods” including beads, ribbons, metal tools, mirrors, knives, shells, kettles, and alcohol.
Although basic in essence, the fur trade provided many dangerous challenges: transportation of goods and furs, weather, disease, competition, and the maintenance of good tribal relations. In the end, the fur trade was an international business on a grand scale, but beyond the profits made, the most important result of the trade during these years was communication. Two very different cultures found common ground without giving up their own identities or engaging in warfare. Click Here for more info.
Homesteading Dakota: Decisions on the Prairie
An early publications gave the following advice to potential homesteaders: "You must not go to Dakota with the idea that you are going to become suddenly rich and independent of the works, for such is not the case. Such instances are, of course, exceptional. You must go with the intention of working for what you receive and with the assurance that you will receive what you work for. The demands of the people of Dakota are, of course, equal and similar to the demands of the people elsewhere. They must have homes, food, clothing and everything else required by others. These things you will, of course, likewise need. The cost of living is much less in Dakota than in the East, for the productiveness of the soil enables a farmer to supply himself with many things that he would be compelled to buy elsewhere, while the demands of society are less exacting with regards to dress." The Land of Promise, Dakota. How to Go, and What to Do When you Get There, 1880.
The Homesteading Dakota: Decisions on the Prairie, you will explore the choices homesteaders had to make upon their arrival in Dakota. Choosing how to obtain land, what type of house to build, which type of crops to plant and which animals would best benefit the family were important decisions that could mean the success of failure of a homesteader. Along the way, explore a replica dugout, plant corn in hills and search for land deeds. Build a farm with blocks, test your farming knowledge and enjoy the smell of freshly turned earth as you make your way through the first few years of a homesteader's experience. Click Here for more info.
