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

Town Hall and Town Pump

Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, July 14, 2018

1. Town Hall and Town Pump Marker

Inscription. The Manchester town hall and town pump were two places where everyone gathered. This monument stands on the site of the town hall, which hosted spirited elections, meetings and dances, carnivals and basketball games. The town pump, located in the middle of the main street, was for years the primary source of water. This semicircular monument pad represents Manchester’s circle of friends and neighbors, always open to newcomers.
Welcome Home!

Dedicated to Tom, Bersha, Harvey and Roy Dunn, Carrie Dunn Reiland,
and all Manchester pioneers.
Bench a gift of Sharon Schaller

Erected 2007.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Settlements & Settlers.

Location. 44° 22.181′ N, 97° 43.227′ W. Marker is near Iroquois, South Dakota, in Kingsbury County. Marker is on Kingsbury Avenue, 0.1 miles north of 208th Street (U.S. 14), on the left when traveling north. Marker is an inscribed granite bench located at the Manchester Memorial site. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 139 Kingsbury Avenue, Iroquois SD 57353, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 9 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Manchester, South Dakota (here, next to this marker); The Manchester Tornado (here, next to this

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marker); Harvy Dunn and Grace Ingalls Dow (here, next to this marker); a different marker also named Manchester (here, next to this marker); KELO-LAND Centennial Gold Rush (approx. ¼ mile away); Harvey Dunn, N.A. (approx. ¼ mile away); Father Pierre Jean De Smet (approx. 8.1 miles away); St. Matthew Lutheran Church (approx. 8.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Iroquois.

Also see . . .
1. Manchester, South Dakota (Wikipedia). As of 2020, the Manchester town site lies barren and abandoned. All that remains of Manchester is the slab foundations of demolished houses along the dirt road grid that composed the town center and the famous Manchester town pump (which survived a direct hit from the tornado mostly intact). There are no plans to rebuild, and the destruction of the town's post office and all remaining structures (along with the flight of the few remaining residents) served to finally extinguish Manchester's raison d'être, making it a natural disaster-induced ghost town. On June 25, 2007 a granite monument was erected in the ghost

Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, July 14, 2018

2. Town Hall and Town Pump Marker

(marker inscription is on top of bench)

town commemorating its history and honoring the residents who had lived there. (Submitted on December 17, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

2. The Manchester Monument. Manchester, a prime example of a pioneering community that sprung to life in the late 1870s along the Chicago & Northwestern Railway and the Black & Yellow Trail (now Highway 14), boasted numerous homes and businesses, a newspaper, two grocery stores, a pool hall, two churches, a post office, a restaurant, a lumber yard, a cream station, a hotel, and two stately grain elevators. (Submitted on December 17, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

Manchester Town Pump image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, July 14, 2018

3. Manchester Town Pump

(pump visible at center of Kingsbury Avenue, just north of memorial)

Manchester Memorial image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, July 14, 2018

4. Manchester Memorial

(looking east • Town Hall and Town Pump Marker on bench in foreground • Kingsbury Avenue in background)

Credits. This page was last revised on December 17, 2020. It was originally submitted on December 16, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 180 times since then and 36 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on December 17, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.