Full Text of Douglas County; Tales and Towns (1938)


	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://www.usgwarchives.net/sd/sdfiles.htm



DOUGLAS COUNTY

TALES AND TOWNS


Compiled by Workers of the
Federal Writers' Project of the
Works Progress Administration in the
State of South Dakota

Sponsored by
ARMOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD
Armour, S. D.
1938

WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
Harry L. Hopkins, Administrator
Ellen S. Woodward, Assistant Administrator
Henry G. Aisberg, Director of Federal Writers' Project

Copyright, 1938, By
ARMOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD
Armour, South Dakota


Armour Herald Print


LAND BOOMERS

    Douglas County was created in 1873 by the Dakota Territorial legislature, 
during a period when the vast unfenced prairie was being opened for settlement. 
As there was already a Lincoln County, the name of Stephen A. Douglas, the Civil 
War President's famous political rival, was given to this new civil division.

    Situated in southern South Dakota between the James and Missouri River 
vslleys, Douglas County's 435 square mile area is considered choice agricultural 
land. During normal years, when rainfall is sufficient, excellent crops of 
wheat, corn, oats, barley, and alfalfa are raised. Considerable feed is grown to 
fatten cattle and hogs for market. Each year carloads of grain, livestock, and 
produce are shipped from the county. It is only natural that of the 6,879 
persons residing in the county during 1938, two-thirds of them live on farms. 
Moreover, they are good farmers, most of them having come from families that 
have been agriculturalists for generations. Two thousand are of German descent, 
and 1,700 of Dutch, and both of these groups are noted for their industrious and 
thrifty farming methods.

    However, there have been hard years and times of crop failures due to 
drought or parasites. In the 1880's a song that was frequently sung" by 
homesteaders went like this:

We have no wheat, we have no oats, 
We have no corn to feed our shoats; 
We cannot go, we have to stay, 
We are too poor to get away.


    Following the dust storms of 1934, the Federal Shelter Belt program 
augmented early tree claims by planting strips of trees to arrest soil erosion, 
and Federal relief agencies aided in a water conservation program by forming 
four new lakes.

    The towns of the county depend upon the farmers for their trade, and 
graveled farm-to-market roads facilitate transportation. The largest town and 
county seat is Armour, which, along with the neighboring towns of Delmont and 
Corsica, is on a branch line of the C. M. St. P. & P. railroad. Harrison, New 
Holland, and Joubert are inland trade centers inhabited almost entirely by 
Hollanders.



    Most of the Douglas County residents have lived in the county all their 
lives, still sharing the hope for bumper crops and prosperity that the early 
settlers had.

    Douglas County was not quickly settled; in fact, it was five years after the 
county was created before the first home seekers arrived. It was during the fall 
of 1878 that Michael and John Donnelly, with their mother, filed on claims in 
the southeastern corner of the county. Then, as far as the eye could see in 
every direction, there was only wild, rolling stretches of treeless prairie. On 
clear days, to the southwest, the solitary smoke of some Indian encampment might 
be seen rising from' the shores of Lake Andes in the Yankton Indian Reservation. 
At night the stillness would be occasionally broken by the eerie cries of 
coyote, or the whirring wings of a disturbed prairie chicken.

    Early in 1880 Major Robert Dollard, who later became the first Attorney 
General of South Dakota, filed on a claim in the northeastern portion of the 
county. At about the same time, R. Gage, Robert Sawyer, David Palmer, and 
William Palmer and his family, located in this vicinity. In the southeast part, 
the Johnson brothers, Ed, Homer, and Frank, and Jefferson Manbeck, took up 
homesteads.

    On the seventh day of June of this same year, the settlers witnessed the 
arrival of an unusual prairie schooner. Built of lumber and having both doors 
and windows, it was a home on wheels, drawn by one horse and one mule, and 
piloted by one Walter H. Brown, a land boomer from northwestern Iowa. With such 
a "residence" representing the mythical town of Brownsdale on the western banks 
of Andes Creek, Brown established the first Douglas County seat of government. 
Under his leadership, a petition containing over fifty names was presented to 
Territorial Governor, Nehemiah Ordway, asking for county organization. Despite 
the fact that at this time there were but a few resident voters in the county 
and no post office, and that in addition the petition was circulated, if 
circulated at all, at a time when deep snows made it impossible to travel over 
the county, the Governor accepted the document as bona fide.

    Brown's references, as given to the Governor, stated that he had been a 
deputy sheriff in the State of New Hampshire, and that while in Iowa he had been 
a county commissioner, a candidate for Congress on a combinatiin ticket, and a 
president and right-of-way agent of a paper railroad. Evidently his 
qualifications bore weight with Governor Ordway for, through his recognition of 
the petition, he permitted Brown to become the "busiest" county commissioner in 
the history of Douglas County. Immediately after being given the appointment, 
Brown, with the aid of his followers, proceeded to purchase a supply of blank 
county, town, and school warrants, issuing just as many as they were able to 
negotiate.

    It was not long before many of the settlers became suspicious that the 
county was being fraudulantly organized. Forming a vigilance committee, they at 
once took steps to bring to justice the persons who were attempting to burden 
the county with heavy debt. This proved to be quite a task, for during the day 
time the Brownsdale patriots usually kept one of their "county officers" on the 
lookout with a field glass. With the approach of strangers, the alarm was given 
and all the members who were in on the fraud, hurriedly fled with a team of 
horses that were kept consantly harnessed for a quick get-away. Finally, in 
desperation, the vigilantes staged a night raid upon Brownsdale, seized the 
books of the fraudulent organization, and carried them south to the Indian 
Reservation where all the records were burned with the exception of the warrant 
book which could not be found, as Brown had made his escape and was never 
apprehended. Before Major Robert Dollard could invalidate the bonds in the 
courts, the total amount of warrants issued equalled about $200,000.

    During the latter part of 1881, through the toss of a coin, J. C. Baird, C. 
F. Huston, and A. D. Mather decided to file on land bordering Choteau Creek. 
Coming from Milltown in Hutchinson County, they had spent the day inspecting 
farm land in Douglas County and, with a bad storm approaching, were undecided 
whether to attempt the return trip or remain overnight. They finally agreed to 
come to a decision through the age-old method of flipping a coin. As a result, 
they spent the night with Jefferson Manbeck and filed on nearby land the next 
day. Mather later became the first County Treasurer, handling, during his term 
in office, a total amount of 25c in cash.

    Among the settlers who arrrived during 1881 and 1882 were John Meade, A. C. 
Williams, Joseph Lester, A. C. Atwater, Walter Fiscus, K. G. Foster, Alfred 
Thomss, and John Bean. Bean and his wife opened a boarding and rooming house 
which became the center of activity in the county, providing a temporary haven 
for many a weary land seeker from Iowa, Indiana, or Wisconsin. Among others who 
arrived about this time were B. T. Boylan, Frank Morgan, James Berry, and the 
three Brown brothers, Charles, William end James.

    Although a few of the early Douglas County settlers came from States farther 
east, the majority of them, including the Dutch and German colonists, came from 
the nearby States. While many were former teachers, office clerks and merchants, 
most of them were farmers or descendants of farmers, and all were pioneers in 
the fullest sense of the word—seeking permanent homes and prosperity in a new 
land. At that time there was neither church, school, store, post office, nor 
railroad in the county. All lumber and supplies had to be hauled from the towns 
of Mitchell or Scotland, and as both places were 35 miles distant, the majority 
of the early arrivals lived in sod shanties or tents.

    Following "The Famous Douglas County Case," as the Brownsdale affair became 
known throught South Dakota, Douglas County was reorganized July 10, 1882, with 
Huston temporarily the first county seat. At the November election, .a permanent 
location was voted upon, with Huston, Grandview, and Douglas City contesting for 
the honor. A tabulation of the votes gave Grandview the county seat by a 
majority of eleven votes. After the railroad reached Armour in 1886, Grandview 
gradually faded into a ghost town, as many of its business buildings and 
residences were moved to a new location. However, the little inland town 
continued to be the county seat until 1894, when Armour became the center of 
county government.
      

TIDES OF SETTLEMENT

    During, the year 1880, Frederick Deisterhaupt and the Hudner brothers, 
together with several other German families, settled in the northeastern part of 
Douglas County. Their glowing accounts of the new land induced hundreds of their 
fellow countrymen to leave Iowa and Illionois and hasten westward to seek now 
homes in Dakota Territory, which had only recently been opened for homesteading 
by the Federal Government. This migration resulted in the eastern and 
northeastern townships of Douglas County being occupied almost solidly by 
families of German extraction. Plainview, the first postoffice in the county, 
was established on the William Palmer homestead in the extreme northeastern 
township, with Palmer as the first postmaster. Although short lived, it was one 
of the first meeting places for the early settlers who came for their mail, and 
to exchange bits of gossip.

    The migrations of Hollanders into Douglas County began in 1881. During that 
year a mass meeting of all Hollanders interested in cheaper lands was held at 
Orange City, Iowa, and Frank Le Cocq, Leendert Van der Meer, and Dirk Van den 
Bos were selected to investigate land in Dakota Territory. After several days of 
travel, they selected a location in western Douglas County. Their reports of the 
fertile prairie land and its promise of prosperity induced friends und relatives 
to join them in such large numbers, that by 1883 all available land in the four 
western townships were taken up by Dutch homesteaders.

    Harrison, at present, a village of 135 inhabitants, became the center of the 
Dutch settlement. This little inland town was named in honor of Senator Benjamin 
Harrison, who in 1884 was the first to introduce a bill into the United States 
Senate proposing to divide Dakota Territory and admit the southern half as the 
State of South Dakota. By a curious coincidence, it was the same Benjamin 
Harrison who, as President of the United States, signed a proclamation of 
November 2, 1889, admitting the State of South Dakota into the Union. The first 
post office in the settlement was at this village, which was on the military 
route from Plankinton to Fort Randall. L. Van der Meer opened the first general 
store, later selling to Peter Eernisse, who was appointed the first postmaster. 
H. Vis was the first druggist in Harrison and L. Markus opened the first 
blacksmith shop. In the fall of 1882, the first church building in Douglas 
County was erected with the customary building material—rough boards and sod, 
permitting1 services to be held regularly on Sundays and during the week. It 
also served as a public school building with Miss Sophia Le Cocq as the first 
teacher.

    Garret Van der Linden built the first hotel, where in these pioneer days 
Major Sharp, the paymaster of Fort Randall, often bivouacked for the night after 
a hard day's ride in a four-mule ambulance. The cash wagon outside, the flimsy 
hotel walls through whose crevices, large enough to serve as portholes, was 
heard the howling of wind and prairie wolves—all this completed a picture of 
rough and ready pioneer days; and the one or two soldiers, sitting up all night 
at the Major's bedside, made it attractive and safe also for land seekers who, 
with pockets full of money, slept in every nook and corner of the twelve by 
twenty prairie "Waldorf," with one eye open.

    During the summer of 1882, settlers came into Douglas County in increasingly 
large numbers, and the prairie land which had formerly looked so barren was now 
dotted with shanties most of them built of sod. To the east and northeastern 
part of the county came those of German nationality; to the west and northwest 
were the Hollanders; while the central portion was settled by mixed 
nationalities, for the most part American born. It was during this year that 
Huston, named after C. E. Huston, pioneer surveyor and locator, was established 
as the second post office in the county, and the first recognized county seat, 
following the downfall of the Brownsdale organization. The first Douglas County 
school was organized at Huston in the fall of the same year with W. H. Rowe as 
teacher during the three months term. Dr. T. M. Stewart and Dr. J.W. Ward were 
the first doctors in the community. At the general election of 1882 the county 
seat was moved to Grandview, which at that time was only a small general store.

    George Mathews published the first newspaper, called the Douglas County 
CHRONICLE. This was printed at the residence of Jefferson Manbeck, in the 
southeastern corner of the county, and as buildings were scarce, a calf shed was 
extemporized into a press room. While the calves were grazing on the rich 
prairie grasses, the editor toiled at the press, being editor, type-setter, 
proof reader, and printer's devil, all in one. And in turn while the editor 
slept, the calves were safely sheltered in the news office. Sometime later, this 
paper was moved to Grandview and T. B. Roberts became editor. During the county 
seat campaign in 1882, a newspaper known as the GRANDVIEW ENTERPRISE was started 
at that place by James Brydon.

  The first wedding in Douglas County occurred on March 8, 1883, when Emma 
Lester, eldest daughter of Joseph Lester was united in marriage to A. C. 
Williams, son of Mrs. Elizabeth Williams. The ceremony was performed at the home 
of the bride's father by Dr. R. B. Bull, one of .the first ministers in the 
county. Later, Dr. Bull preached the first sermon in Armour from a wagon in 
front of what was then the Crutchett and Scallin drug store.

  In 1884 the Reformed Church of Harrison was organized. Shortly after this the 
Christian Reformed people built a church there and also one at New Holland, a 
settlement four miles west of Harrison. About the same time the people of 
Grandview built a suitable church and parsonage.

    So rapidly did new settlers arrive in Douglas County that by 1885 
practically all the land open for homesteading had been filed upon. The total 
population by that time was approximately 4000.


BLIZZARD AND PRAIRIE FIRE

    Many stories of the hardships and perils encountered by the pioneers of 
Douglas County are recalled by the few remaining survivors of those sod shanty 
days. Other information concerning early day life with its attendant trials has 
been brought to light through the scanning of newspaper files and items found in 
scrap books kept and treasured by the "old-timers."

    James Hanskutt, pioneer Armour merchant who arrived in Douglas County in 
1886, remembers that during his first few years in business he had more 
experience trading with Indians than with white people, since there were 
frequently as many as a thousand Indians camped around the town at one time. 
While staging their dances and pow-wows. the squaws would often seize a white 
man and dance with him almost forcibly, demanding pay before they would let him 
go. On other occasions the Indian bucks became wild and unruly, usually because 
of liquor. For, while it was against the law to sell or give them liquor, the 
fact that there were seven saloons in the town of Armour made it quite easy for 
them to obtain "firewater" providing they had money. During this early period 
large groups of Indians camped in different places throughout Douglas County. 
The bucks were glad to "swap" moccasins or blankets with the white settlers for 
meat or whatever they could get in exchange. Many an Indian blanket was traded 
for a side of pork or a chunk of beef. This was more or less dangerous because 
the blankets generally had a large "I. D." stamped on them, since they were 
issued by the Indian Department and were really the property of the Government. 
However, many of them were made into clothing with the I. D. "conspicuously" 
missing, some even having changed their color.

    During Armour's disastrous fire of 1889, Hanskutt's store and living 
quarters were destroyed, forcing him to move into a house that had been brought 
overland from Grandview. Since this house had never been finished, it had large 
cracks in the walls, which were built of boards running up and down. As a 
result, the Hanskutt family found, upon awakening one morning following a 
blizzard, that their house had filled with snow, which even covered their beds. 
It required considerable time and labor to dig their way out.

    Undoubtedly one of the worst enemies of the early settler was the prairie 
fire. As there was very little land broken for cultivation at this time, such 
fires, once started, often burned over miles of dry, grassy prairie land before 
dying out or being quenched. Jefferson Manbeck who arrived in March 1880 and 
filed on a homestead in the southeast part of the county, tells of seeing that 
first year one of the worst prairie fires in the history of South Dakota. 
According to Manbeck, the fire was started by Indians at the Yankton Agency and 
burned over a large section of southeastern South Dakota. Mrs. Donnelly, the 
first white woman in the county, and one of the first persons to file on a 
homestead in Douglas County, was burned to death in this conflagration, which, 
driven by a strong wind, at times traveled faster than a horse could run. 
Manbeck recalls the unpleasant experience of spending the night alone with the 
corpse, since several women, who started from Old Bon Homme in Bon Homme County 
to care for the body, lost their way because of the dust and smoke that filled 
the air, and did not arrive until the following day when the haze lessened.

    January 12, 1888, will never be forgotten by the early settlers of Douglss 
County. The morning was ideal, as the sun came out warm with the promise of a 
beautiful day. Toward noon the wind changed, clouds gathered, and snow began to 
fall. Within an hour it waa not safe to venture outside without a rope attached 
to the house for guidance on the return. Four lives were lost in the county and 
several hundred head of stock perished during the terrible storm.

    Later in the morning of this ill-fated day, Ed Christianson started on foot 
from Armour to Beulah. Just as the storm struck he met Jake Mack, who prevailed 
upon him to turn around so that they might attempt the return trip together. 
Bewildered, they lost the road and drifted with the storm 12 miles where, just 
at the edge of the Yankton Indian Reservation, Mack became exhausted and gave up 
the fight for life. Christiansen, who was dressed more warmly, made futile 
attempts to arouse him, and then started on alone, walking with the storm. With 
the coming of daylight he knew he was on the reservation, and by turning north 
he finally reached the Hutchinson home, two miles south of Delmont. He was 
severely frozen, and his survival seemed almost miraculous, as he had struggled 
on foot continuously for 20 hours and covered unnumbered miles during the worst 
blizzard in South Dakota history. Two days later a searching party found the 
body of Jake Mack at the place where Christiansen had been forced to leave him.

    More pitiful yet was the case of John Davis who set out to bring his 
children home from school. After missing the road and becoming lost he was 
forced to turn his team loose and take shelter under his sled, where he was 
found with legs so badly frozen that amputation was necessary.

    Walter Fiscus, who filed on a Douglas County homestead and tree claim in 
March 1882, was living in Armour during the winter of '88. On the day of the 
"Big Blizzard" he was doing work which required the use of twine, and upon going 
home for dinner he placed one of the twine balls in his pocket and forgot about 
it until the storm grew worse, and he decided to go after his children who were 
in school. By tying one end of the twine to the doorknob of his home and 
carrying the ball with him he made the trip to the school and back ssfely, 
though it took him three hours to do it.

    M. M. Brumbach, another unfortunate caught in the storm, had an extremely 
lucky escape front death. Losing his way while returning to his home in the 
country, he kept walking until he finally discovered a line of stones which he 
recognized as marking his land. After following these as far as they went, he 
continued in the direction which he felt sure would take him home. However, he 
again became lost and wandered around until almost exhausted when, suddenly 
stumbling through a snowdrift, he fell against the walls of his own house.

    Late on the day of the storm, William Conover drove to the schoolhouse after 
his children. Being afraid to attempt the return trip with the youngsters, he 
led his team into the schoolhouse and remained overnight with the school 
children.

    The saddest and most touching incident among the many tragedies which came 
to southeastern South Dakota as a result of this most disastrous snowtorm on 
record took place a few miles from Tripp in Hutchinson County, which borders the 
County of Douglas on the east. Here, with the passing of the blizzard, were 
found the frozen bodies of nine country school children and their teacher, Mrs. 
Anna Wilson, all huddled together in a cornfield several miles from the 
schoolhouse. They had perished in an attempt to reach a nearby home.

    April 2. 1889, is vividly impressed upon the minds of early Douglas County 
settlers as the date of a great prairie fire. Driven by a high wind, it swept 
with surprising and terrifying speed over a large portion of the county, 
destroying hay, buildings, stock, and other valuable property which stood in its 
path, and taking the life of one woman, a Mrs Cline. Fred Kellogg tells how his 
father hitched his team to a wagon and as the fire approached their home put his 
family in it and drove out on some plowed ground, from which they were forced to 
watch their stock and buildings burn, powerless to save them.

    All have heard of the queer and unsual pranks played by cyclones in their 
course of destruction—some so strange that they are almost unbelievable. One of 
these "believe it or not" discoveries followed the extremely severe "twister" 
which visited Douglas County during 1892.

    At the moment this terrific wind struck the village of Grand-view. Alfred W. 
Thomas was attempting to close the door of his living quarters which were on the 
second floor of his store building. When the roof and walls left for parts 
unknown, Thomas experienced the unusual thrill of being carried through the air 
for almost a block and then being dropped none too gently in a sitting position 
in the center of Main Street. Although badly battered and bruised, he still had 
a firm grip on the doorknob, however it was no longer attached to the door. And 
while he suffered no broken bones, his greatest misfortune was to land upon a 
piece of lumber from which a twenty-penny nail protruded. As a result of his 
forced landing, he spent many uncomfortable days in bed. Several weeks later he 
received a letter from a friend, addressed "To The Man Who Sat On A Nail, 
Grandview, South Dakota."

    The Thomas store was completely demolished as a result of the storm and some 
of the contents were found more than five miles away. Thomas tells of six dozen 
plates which were in stock on a shelf and were afterwards found, each with a 
piece about the size of a nickel broken out of the side, but otherwise 
undamaged.

    Stranger yet, is the story of the old kerosene lamp which was resting on a 
desk within the store when the “breeze" arrived. With its passing a most 
incredible discovery was made by the curious as they searched among the ruins. 
For still reposing upon the desk in its usual spot was the kerosene lamp, 
unbroken— and with its chimney also intact.

    Among those who vouch for the authenticity of this story are A. W. Thomas, 
the storekeeper, and Mrs. Harry Piner, each of whom saw it directly after the 
storm. Both are pioneer residents of Douglas County.

COUNTRY MAIN STREETS

    On any Saturday, a stranger in Armour will see Main Street jammed with 
automobiles and occasional horse-drawn wagons, people milling on the sidewalks, 
stores crowded. The farmers have come to town. It is the day to sell eggs, 
cream, produce, livestock, and grain; the day to buy groceries, clothes and 
machinery.

    Sunday the town appears deserted, except for a part of the morning when a 
series of bells ring out from church steeples, and the streets fill briefly with 
people in their Sunday best. The bells peal on, and the stranger is told that 
when the town was founded in 1886, it was named for P. D. Armour, prominent meat 
parker and at that time a director of the Milwaukee railroad, who reciprocated 
by purchasing a bell for the town's first church.

    Monday, the town of 1,008 citizens returns to normal—county seat business, 
lodge meetings and contract bridge.

    Armour is 100 miles west of Sioux Falls, and 44 miles southwest of Mitchell 
on State highway 41 and on the C. M. St. P. & P. RR., a branch line between 
Tripp and Stickney. While never a boom town, its position in the midst of a 
prosperous farming district has resulted in a steady growth and advance until it 
is now a thriving, modern town of 1,008 population, its oil-surfaced Main Street 
lined with nearly 100 business places. Without question those first pioneer 
businessmen of Armour were building for the future, for when the town celebrated 
its 50th anniversary in 1936, three of the firms that began business with the 
opening of the town were still in existence, managed by descendants of those who 
originally started the enterprises.

    Included among the Armour businesses are five grocery and mercantile stores, 
a bank, theatre, hatchery, two ready-to-wear shops, two drug stores, ten filling 
stations, three beauty shops, two lumber yards, four garages, five cream and 
produce stations, three elevators, a wholesale tobacco company, and two weekly 
newspapers, The Armour HERALD and The CHRONICLE.

    The residential section has an abundance of shade trees, grown from 
seedlings, that have long been the pride of local citizens, for trees are scarce 
on the prairie. An annual clean-up week keeps the town neat and orderly. In the 
northeast corner of the city is the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, one of the most 
beautiful in the entire State.

    The first building in Armour was moved there from Grandview, an earlier 
settlement and former county seat. It was used to house the first post office 
and also a newspaper plant, in addition to providing living quarters for the 
early arrivals. This old landmark, still on Main Street, is used at present 
(1938) as a cafe. Later, other buildings and homes were moved from the old 
county seat and Armour became the principal city and business center of Douglas 
County.

    The first school was held in the Congregational Church in 1886 with Mrs. H. 
B. Mead as the first teacher. In 1887 a frame schoolhouse was built on the site 
of the present grade school. This consisted of one large room divided through 
the center by a long curtain, like the walls of Jericho in "Green Pastures." 
During that first year, E. P. Wanzer, who arrived on the first train to Armour 
in 1886, taught the upper grades on one side of the curtain, while his wife had 
charge of the lower grades on the other side.

    Mr. and Mrs. Wanzer soon became active in State as well as local 
development. After several years of teaching school, Wanzer passed the bar 
examination and became one of the best known attorneys in the State. He served 
as president of the Armour school board for many years, was States Attorney for 
two terms, and was a State Senator in 1918 and 1919. His wife, Lula S. Wanzer 
founded the South Dakota Health Association in 1913, and was chosen its first 
president. During that year she organized the first Christmas Seal Sale in South 
Dakota and, with the proceeds, employed the first public health nurse. In 
appreciation of her continued efforts and influence toward developing public 
health work in the State, Camp Wanzer, the South Dakota Tuberculosis 
Association's summer preventorium in the Black Hills is named for her. In 
Armour, she was instrumental in establishing the Andrew Carnegie Library. At the 
time of her death in 1931, she was a member of the Board of Regents which 
exercises supervision over State colleges and normal schools.

    In 1927 a new and completely modern high school building was erected at a 
cost of $50,000. During the past several years, the enrollment for the grades 
and high school has averaged more than 300.

    The Douglas County Courthouse was completed in 1928 at a cost of $150,000. 
The new building was the first in the State with its records not locked in 
vaults, but placed on racks in the offices. Occupying an entire block, it is 
considered the finest public building in Douglas County.

    Among the city's churches are the Community Congregational, Lutheran, 
Catholic and Episcopal. The Congregational Church celebrated its 50th 
anniversary in 1936 with one charter member, Mrs. H. B. Mead, still active in 
church work. St. George's Catholic Church, established in 1886, has had the same 
priest, the Rev. Father E. W. Carey, for more than 35 years.

    Chief among the active organizations within the city are the Masons, Eastern 
Star, Odd Fellows, Rebekahs, Knights of Pythias, Royal Neighbors, Degree of 
Honor, P. E. O., American Legion and Auxiliary, a Community Club, Boy and Girl 
Scouts, and also several church organizations and two federated study clubs.

    Armour has a Carnegie Library which, built on Main Street during 1914, now 
has over eight thousand books available for public use. Part of this building is 
used for meetings of the different city organizations.

    The telephone system is privately owned and operated, while the electric 
light and power service is furnished by the Northwestern Public Service Company. 
The city possesses the necessary modern fire fighting apparatus and has a well 
trained volunteer fire department.

    Lake Alacazar, on the edge of town, is a recreation center developed with 
the aid of the Works Progress Administration, well stocked with game fish. It 
has an attractive bathing beach, and provides the community with an excellent 
skating rink during the winter months.

    Other recreational advantages include a nine-hole golf course, a public 
course at the northeast edge of town, tennis court, ball park, and skating rink. 
A bandstand where the high school band presents regular weekly concerts during 
the summer season is in the center of town. In 1915 the city purchased 15 acres 
which are used as a ball park and race track. The town sponsors a 
semiprofessional baseball club, which competes each season as a member of the 
Central South Dakota League.

  Second in size among Douglas County towns is Delmont with a population of 518, 
in which the German element predominates. Founded in 1886, it was presumably 
named for a railroad official. This town lies 13 miles southeast of Armour on U. 
S. Highway 18, and is a station on the Milwaukee branch line. Surrounded by some 
of the best farm land in South Dakota, Delmont is a shipping point for many 
carloads of grain and livestock annually.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andreas Historical Atlas of Dakota.
Fifth Census of South Dakota.
The Monthly South Dakotan, Vol. IV.
Dakota Territory, Vol. II.
History of South Dakota. Vol. I.