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Near Brookings in Brookings County, South Dakota — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
 

Medary Townsite

1857-58   1871-79

 
 
Medary Townsite Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Ruth VanSteenwyk, August 5, 2018
1. Medary Townsite Marker
Inscription. The Dakota Land Company of St. Paul, hoping to make this site the capital of a proposed Dakota Territory, started a town here, naming it for Samuel Medary, Governor of Minnesota Territory. Towns were also begun at Flandreau and Sioux Falls, the same year, 1857.

The site was settled when the Fort Ridgely and South Pass Wagon Road was built through here to the Missouri in 1857. Samuel A. Medary, son of the Governor, was the Engineer and Col. Wm. H. Nobles was its promoter and builder. A rock ford was made over the Big Sioux. The area of South Dakota east of the Big Sioux was ceded by the Santee Sioux in 1851, and that west to the Missouri was ceded by the Yankton Sioux in 1859.

The Sioux under a Yankton chief, Smutty Bear, regarding the white settlers as trespassers, determined to drive them away. A warning was sent to the settlers by Dr. Thos. S. Williamson. Their leader, Franklin J. DeWitt, prepared the settlers to resist but finally agreed to leave peaceably in June 1858. The Sioux burned their buildings and destroyed their crops. Flandreau was evacuated and only Sioux Falls remained until the Sioux Uprising in 1862.

In 1869 permanent white settlement began in this vicinity, again known as Medary, with the Trygstads, Jermstads, and Chris Baltrud. Settlers were of Norwegian and old American
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stock. Brookings County was created in 1862. Medary was named as the county seat on Jan. 21, 1871 and so remained until 1879, when most of the stores and houses were moved north 7 miles to Brookings, as the railroad reached that point.
 
Erected 1957 by Brookings County Commissioners and State Highway Commission. (Marker Number 189.)
 
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Native AmericansSettlements & Settlers. In addition, it is included in the South Dakota State Historical Society Markers series list. A significant historical month for this entry is June 1858.
 
Location. 44° 12.625′ N, 96° 47.237′ W. Marker is near Brookings, South Dakota, in Brookings County. Marker is at the intersection of 471st Avenue and 219th Street, on the right when traveling south on 471st Avenue. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Brookings SD 57006, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. First Convention in Brookings County (a few steps from this marker); Medary (within shouting distance of this marker); Moody County (approx. one mile away); Brookings County (approx. one mile away); Hagensick's Resort (approx. 3.9 miles away); Tangle Town (approx. 4.1 miles away);
Medary Townsite Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Ruth VanSteenwyk, August 5, 2018
2. Medary Townsite Marker
Recycling Trash Into Our Treasure (approx. 4.2 miles away); Lake Campbell Lutheran Church (approx. 4.9 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Brookings.
 
Medary Townsite Marker image. Click for full size.
August 15, 2021
3. Medary Townsite Marker
Medary Townsite Marker image. Click for full size.
August 15, 2021
4. Medary Townsite Marker
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on August 21, 2021. It was originally submitted on August 6, 2018, by Ruth VanSteenwyk of Aberdeen, South Dakota. This page has been viewed 350 times since then and 24 times this year. Last updated on August 21, 2021. Photos:   1, 2. submitted on August 6, 2018, by Ruth VanSteenwyk of Aberdeen, South Dakota.   3, 4. submitted on August 21, 2021. • Mark Hilton was the editor who published this page.

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Mar. 28, 2024