Yankton, South Dakota

==History==

===Native inhabitants===
[[File:DakotaTerritory.png|thumb|upright=1.15|The [[Dakota Territory]] in 1861.]]
The site of Yankton was occupied by the Yankton Sioux (Dakota) prior to the arrival of European settlers.  As part of the vast [[Louisiana Purchase]], the site of Yankton was visited by [[Lewis and Clark]] in 1804. In the journals of the expedition, the explorers write of a meeting on August 30, 1804, with members of the [[Yankton Sioux Tribe]] on a Missouri River bluff presently known as [[Calumet Bluff]]. As recently as 1857, the present day site of Yankton was occupied by a village of Yankton Sioux led by Chief ''Pa-le-ne-a-pa-pe'' ("Struck by the Ree").<ref>{{cite book |last=Kingsbury |first=George W. |year=1915 |title=History of Dakota Territory |publisher=S.J. Clarke Publishing Company |place=Chicago, IL |page=115}}</ref> Two years later, with the signing of the [[Yankton Treaty|Yankton Treaty of 1858]], the land was opened for settlement.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Yankton, South Dakota |website=Yankton, South Dakota |url=http://www.yanktonsd.com/subcategory.cfm?cat_id=4&subcat_id=6 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214105405/http://www.yanktonsd.com/subcategory.cfm?cat_id=4&subcat_id=6 |archive-date=February 14, 2008}}</ref> The city was founded where the small Rhine Creek (renamed Marne Creek in [[World War I]]) flowed into the Missouri River.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yankton.net/history/ |title=History of Yankton |access-date=February 3, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080302035616/http://www.yankton.net/history/|archive-date=March 2, 2008|url-status=dead |website=Press & Dakotan}}</ref> The city grew as a stop for steamboats to take on fresh water and supplies, especially after steamboat traffic boomed when gold was discovered in the [[Black Hills]].

===Dakota territorial capital===
[[File:Dakota Territory Capitol Replica Yankton.JPG|thumb|A modern replica of the Dakota Territorial Capitol building stands in Yankton's Riverside Park.]]
With two days left in his term, President [[James Buchanan]] signed a law on March 2, 1861, creating the [[Dakota Territory]]. Yankton was designated as the territorial capital, and newly inaugurated President [[Abraham Lincoln]] appointed his personal physician, [[William Jayne|William A. Jayne]] of Springfield, Illinois, as the first territorial governor.<ref>Milton, John R. (1988) – South Dakota: A History – W.W. Norton and Company, New York, N.Y. – pp. 71</ref>  The territorial capitol building, a plain, two-story wooden structure, was located at the intersection of Fourth and Capitol Streets;<ref>{{cite book |last=Karolevitz |first=Robert F. |year=1972 |title=Yankton: A Pioneer Past |publisher=North Plains Press |place=Aberdeen, SD |pages=40–41}}. U.S. Library of Congress Number 72-88949</ref> the original structure has been demolished, but a replica of the building has been constructed in Yankton's Riverside Park. Yankton served as the territorial capital until 1883 when the capital was moved to [[Bismarck, North Dakota|Bismarck]] (now the capital of North Dakota).<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://time.com/4377423/dakota-north-south-history-two/|title=Now You Know: Why Are There Two Dakotas?|last=Fabry|first=Merrill|date=July 14, 2016|magazine=Time|access-date=February 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190124062549/http://time.com/4377423/dakota-north-south-history-two/|archive-date=January 24, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Yankton Stockade===
In response to the [[Dakota War of 1862]] in western Minnesota, Governor Jayne issued a proclamation on August 30, 1862, requiring every male between the ages of 18 and 50 in every settlement in eastern Dakota, be formed into militias to protect against expected attacks from the Native Americans.{{sfnp|Kingsbury|1915|pp=235–244}} In response, the Yankton militia built a stockade at the corner of Third Street and Broadway Avenue of approximately 200,000 square feet.  Settlers from the surrounding area, and as far away as Sioux Falls and Bon Homme County, fled to Yankton to seek shelter in the structure.

Although roving bands of Native Americans did approach Yankton over the course of several weeks, no attack ensued, and the stockade was eventually abandoned and torn down. There is a historical marker at the site of the former stockade.<ref>{{Cite web |title=West Wall / Yankton Stockade Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=177907 |access-date=2022-04-25 |website=www.hmdb.org |language=en}}</ref>

Among the most notable events that occurred in Yankton while capital, [[Jack McCall]], murderer of [[Wild Bill Hickok]] in [[Deadwood, South Dakota|Deadwood]] on August 2, 1876, was tried in Yankton for Hickok's murder, found guilty, and was hanged on March 1, 1877, at the age of 24. His body is buried in a Yankton cemetery.{{sfnp|Karolevitz|1972|p=85}}

===Yankton College===
[[File:Yankton College Conservatory.jpg|right|thumb|The conservatory building on the former [[Yankton College]] campus – now a part of the [[Federal Prison Camp, Yankton|Yankton Federal Prison Camp]].]]
Due to the urging of the Reverend [[Joseph Ward]] of Yankton, the General Association of Congregational Churches in Dakota Territory voted in May 1881 to establish "Pilgrim College" in Yankton, which was to be the first private institution of higher learning in Dakota.{{sfnp|Karolevitz|1972|pp=99–100}} When the college was incorporated in August 1881, the name had been changed to "Yankton College".  Classes commenced in October 1882, and [[Yankton College]] played a prominent role in the city for over 100 years.

Then, in 1983, the small liberal arts college was forced to close due to financial insolvency.  After remaining vacant for several years, the historic campus, which is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]], was purchased by the United States [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]] for use as a minimum security prison. The [[Federal Prison Camp, Yankton|Federal Prison Camp – Yankton]] houses approx 850 male inmates.<ref>{{cite web |title=fpc yankton |url=https://federalcriminaldefenseattorney.com/federal-bureau-prisons/fpc-yankton-camp/ |website=federal criminal defense attorney}}</ref>

===River Port and the Flood of 1881===
[[File:Blasting ice with dynamite from in front of steamer on the ways, by Stanley J. Morrow.png|right|thumb|upright=1.15|A view of Yankton's riverfront after the flood of March 1881.]]
Since its founding, Yankton enjoyed a natural advantage as a steamboat landing along the [[Missouri River]] due to the fact that its landing stretched along the entire length of the town's riverfront.{{sfnp|Kingsbury|1915|p=567}} The first steamboat to reach Yankton from St.  Louis arrived in 1859, providing goods and supplies to settlers and fur-traders in upper and central Dakota.{{sfnp|Kingsbury|1915|p=568}} Since then, the city continued to grow and quickly became the second largest city in South Dakota.  The railroad reached Yankton in 1872. In 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills and prospectors rushed into Dakota Territory.{{sfnp|Kingsbury|1915|pp=891–896}} By 1880, Yankton had become an established riverboat port on the Missouri River. It retained its position as the second largest city in South Dakota until the beginning of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite report |title=Contents – South Dakota |work=Fourteenth Census |year=1920 |url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/06229686v38-43ch3.pdf |page=8}}</ref>

The city's status as an important port was literally crushed on March 27, 1881, when an ice dam on the Missouri River burst, sending flood waters and giant blocks of ice flowing towards the town.{{sfnp|Karolevitz|1972|pp=92–95}}

The resulting flood waters continued to accumulate behind the debris, and by March 29, the town's riverfront and downtown were covered in water, ice and rock, destroying or stranding several riverboats that were moored there. As a result of this flood, and the expansion of railroads as a preferred method of shipping goods, Yankton's river boat traffic was reduced, and the city's role as a prominent stopping point on the way west dwindled over the next several years.{{sfnp|Karolevitz|1972|p=95}}

Francis Marion Ziebach established the second newspaper in the area that became South Dakota, the ''Weekly Dakotan'', in Yankton on June 6, 1861, bringing his outfit from [[Sioux Falls]] by team and wagon.<ref>Lee, James Melvin (1917). – ''History of American Journalism''. – Houghton Mifflin Company. –  pp.246–247.<br>— Coursey, Oscar William (1917). – ''Who's Who in South Dakota''. – Educator Supply Company.<br>— NOTE: According to these sources, the first newspaper in what is now South Dakota was the ''Dakota Democrat'' published in Sioux Falls for about four years starting in 1858, and the ''Weekly Dakotan'' was the second newspaper in what is now South Dakota, starting on June 4, 1861.</ref> A second newspaper, started by Francis Marion Ziebach, is still published today as the Yankton ''Press and Dakotan''.<ref>A South Dakota Guide. – Federal Writer’s Project. – 1938. – p.35.</ref>

In 1882, the [[Human Services Center]] was established as a psychiatric hospital. On June 2, 1883, Dakota Territory Governor [[Nehemiah G. Ordway]] moved the territorial capital from Yankton to [[Bismarck, North Dakota|Bismarck]], present-day [[North Dakota]].

===National Register of Historic Places===
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 | caption3 = [[Charles Gurney Hotel]]

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 | image5   = Bishop Marty Rectory from SE.JPG
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As evidence of its rich historical past, Yankton has 26 individual properties and 6 historic districts within the city listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Yankton County, South Dakota|National Register of Historic Places]], maintained by the [[U.S. National Park Service]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2018}}  Each individual district contains several structures, and include:
* the Yankton (residential) Historic District,
* the [[Yankton College]] Historic District,
* the Yankton High School Historic District,
* the Yankton Historic Commercial District
* the [[Charles Gurney Hotel|House of Gurney]] Historic District, and
* the South Dakota Human Services Center campus.