Riverboats & a link to President Lincoln: Yankton's history

Yahoo

18-03-2025

YANKTON, S.D. (KELO) — From being a hub for riverboat travel to its time as the first capital of the Dakota Territory, Yankton, South Dakota has an intriguing story to tell.
When you think of Yankton, the Missouri River might be the first thing that comes to mind, but there is much more to Yankton's past to unpack.
On the north side of Yankton, you'll find the Mead Museum, a building that plays a key role in Yankton's history.
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'The Mead building was built in 1909, and it was the women's ward of the mental health hospital,' Mead Museum executive director and executive curator Crystal Mensch said.
Its namesake is Dr. Leonard Mead. The building was part of what was once a sprawling campus of 54 buildings.
'He had really this new age idea about mental health treatment, and he really wanted to surround patients with a college-like campus rather than an institution. That was really his overall goal. He just really wanted to make sure that the patients felt comfortable and didn't feel institutionalized,' Mensch said.
The hospital stopped operations in the 1980s. In 2018, the Yankton County Historical Society opened it as a museum. The organization has over 45,000 artifacts in its possession, telling a story that begins with the Native American tribe the town is named after.
'Yankton is an English version of the Dakota name Ihanktonowan, which is Yankton, basically, in the Dakota language. That's who had their camp here the majority of actually eastern South Dakota prior to Dakota Territory,' Mensch said.
The tribe also played a role in the Lewis and Clark expedition when it came through the area in 1804.
'Some of the earliest documentation of the Ihanktonowan people comes from Lewis and Clark and their encounter here, what would become Yankton. They were actually on the Nebraska side on the bluffs is where they officially met,' Mensch said.
The expedition also had help from a man named Pierre Dorian. There's a memorial for him in town that you can check out.
'He had met Lewis and Clark as they were approaching what would be really South Dakota or closer to Yankton, so Pierre Dorian had help with translation during the communications between the Ihanktonowan people and Lewis and Clark,' Mensch said.
Decades later, Yankton started attracting entrepreneurs. Many of them started arriving to the area around 1859.
'Yankton was initially settled because it was a good location on the Missouri River for riverboats to come up and for goods to be delivered,' Mensch said.
One of those earlier entrepreneurs was a man by the name of John Blair Smith Todd.
'If you recognize the last name, there'd be good reason for it because he is first cousins to Mary Todd Lincoln, President Lincoln's wife,' Mensch said.
Yankton was also the first capital of the Dakota Territory, which was something that intrigued Todd. He had his sights set on being the territory's first governor, but Lincoln had other plans.
'He said, 'No, I'm not going to put you in charge of a new territory that is so vast because I don't agree with your politics,'' Mensch said.
Being the Dakota Territory's first capital created an opportunity for Yankton to be the site of some major historical events. Not far from the Mead Museum, you'll find a historical marker. It tells anyone who stops by and reads it that Yankton was the site of the historic trial of Jack McCall in 1877. McCall was the man accused of killing Wild Bill Hickock in Deadwood.
'There's a lot of information in history related to that and how this trial might have been double jeopardy, but it really wasn't. There's so much more to that story, but he was tried, found guilty and hung here in Yankton,' Mensch said.
These historical events don't even begin to scratch the surface of Yankton's rich history, but that's all part of what makes Yankton what it is today.
'I think anyone who lives in or visits Yankton can inherently feel the foundation of our history. Just by going down the streets, seeing elements like the Meridian Bridge. We've kind of built this sweet little part of the world based on a really strong history, and I think that because we have that foundation of unique and vibrant history, we move forward,' Mead Museum marketing coordinator Julie Mooney said.
And the museum will continue to learn more about what makes Yankton one-of-a-kind.
'Yankton has definitely proved that as we unearth more and more pieces that have been hidden in the 45,000 plus artifacts at the museum, there's always an opportunity to learn more and to grow our understanding,' Mensch said.
Another major historical event in Yankton was the flood of 1881. Ironically, some of the boats that were displaced by the flood landed on top of railroad tracks, which was the industry that led to the decline of riverboats.
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