Historical Societies Near Me in Salem
Great Plains Zoo And Delbridge Museum Of Natural History
805 South Kiwanis Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD
About Us:
As an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) the Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum of Natural History in Sioux Falls, SD strives to fulfill four major objectives: Education, Conservation, Recreation and Discovery.
The Great Plains Zoo features over 1,000 animals from around the world. The 45-acre park offers up-close views of animals often not found in larger zoos, including giraffes, tigers, rhinos and a jumping, hooting array of primates. Watch the playful tiger cubs at the Asian Cat exhibit. Visit "Imara" and "Jubba" at the new "Rare Rhinos of Africa" exhibit. Feed a goat, ride a camel, or get a kiss from a sheep with six horns in the Hy-Vee Face-to-Face Farm.
The Zoo also includes the Delbridge Museum of Natural History, a one-in-the-world collection of 150 mounted animals including 36 "vanishing species"
Sioux Empire Medical Museum
1305 West 18th Street, Sioux Falls, SD
A diverse collection of medical history provides new appreciation for today's medical care. Exhibits include an Iron Lung and past examples of a patient room, pediatrics area and nursery, and a surgery center.
Pettigrew Home and Museum
131 North Duluth Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD
This home was built in 1889 for Thomas and Jenny McMartin. Â In 1911, Senator Richard Franklin Pettigrew purchased the home for $12,000. Â It was here that he would help to preserve the story of Sioux Falls and the surrounding region.
 Pettigrew first came to Sioux Falls in 1869.  He worked tirelessly to build and promote the city.  He was responsible for bringing in all five early railroads, developing many businesses for the community, and he served as Dakota's representative to Congress in Washington D.C.  When South Dakota became a state in 1889, Pettigrew was elected to serve as our first full term senator.  He would serve two terms in Congress, championing the rights of women, farmers, and the commonworking man.
 One of R.F. Pettigrew's passions was his collecting.  He was a world traveler and amateur archaeologist.  His holdings led him to build his own museum on the rear of his home that opened to the public in 1925.  Artifacts such as stone tools, projectile points, Native American clothing, guns, natural history specimens, and items related to the settlement of Sioux Falls all were included. When he died in 1926, he left his home and museum to the city of Sioux Falls to be maintained as a museum.  A further addition would be added to the home in the 1930s by the city, completing Pettigrew's vision.
 Today you can take a guided tour of Senator Pettigrew's restored home.  The home is arranged much the way it would have looked when Pettigrew lived here.  Exhibit galleries tell the story of Pettigrew's works and of a growing city on the prairie.
Children's Museum of South Dakota
521 4th Street, Brookings, SD
The museum is a welcoming, fun and entertaining environment which helps spark learning through imagination, creativity, and discovery. Exhibits, both inside and outside, are broad-based to include subjects in science, engineering, art, literature, culture, geography, and history. The Children's Museum of South Dakota is a place that relates to its region, its community, its children, and their learning wants and needs. It is a place where children and adults learn through play.Â
Above all else, the Board Members of the Children's Museum of South Dakota share a common passion and interest in giving children the best opportunities for success in life. It's this idea that steers the development of the museum's exhibits, programming, and priorities.Â
 - Playing as a way to learn
 - Enhancing a love of nature
 - Building stewardship of the environment
 - Facilitating play between children and adults
 - Learning about the people, the community, and the cultures of the region and of the world
 - Fostering family relationships through enjoyment and play
 - Fostering creativity and expression
 - A devotion to children's education
 - Being open-minded, creative and curious
 - A passion for lifelong learning
 - Giving back to the community
 - Appreciation for diverse perspectives
 - Inclusion for all
Dakota Territorial Museum
82 Mickelson Drive, Yankton, SD
Mission Statement:
The Yankton County Historical Society provides an authentic historical experience of the Yankton area from pre-Dakota Territory to modern day.
Vision Statement:
Yankton County Historical Society will strive to enhance the quality of life through cultural understanding.
National Music Museum
414 East Clark Street, Vermillion, SD
Founded in 1973 on the campus of The University of South Dakota in Vermillion, the National Music Museum (NMM) & Center for Study of the History of Musical Instruments is one of the great institutions of its kind in the world. Its renowned collections, which include more than 13,500 American, European, and non-Western instruments from virtually all cultures and historical periods, are the most inclusive anywhere.
The NMM is fully accredited by the American Association of Museums in Washington, D.C., and is recognized as "A Landmark of American Music" by the National Music Council.
The NMM was founded as a partnership between The University of South Dakota, which provides staff and facilities for preservation, teaching, and research, and the Board of Trustees of the NMM, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation that is responsible for acquisitions, public exhibiting, and programming. The Board of Trustees is totally dependent upon support from NMM members, individuals, corporations, foundations, and governmental units.
Akta Lakota Museum And Cultural Center
1301 North Main Street, Chamberlain, SD
Constructed in 1968, the building currently home to the Akta Lakota Museum and Cultural Center once served as the school on St. Joseph's campus. Roughly 10 years after its construction, students shifted from dormitories to family living units.
This change prompted St. Joseph's administrators to reduce class sizes. This change better met the students' individual needs. As a result, a dormitory was converted into classroom space. In 1989, renovations were completed and students began a new era of education
Soon after classes began in the new school building, transformation began on the 14,180 square foot structure which would house the Akta Lakota Museum and Cultural Center. Designed by Brother Bonaventure and Father Lind in the 1960's, the building's circular shape offered a unique site to display the history of the Lakota people. The distinctive design was also very stable. The design was supported by beams allowing for adjustment to the shifting ground
Fort Sisseton Historic State Park
11907 434th Avenue, Lake City, SD
Named after the nearby Sisseton Indian Tribe, this historic fort is now a picturesque state park that unfolds the area's past. Walk the grounds where the officers' quarters, stone barracks, powder magazine, guard house, and other buildings that remain from the time of the western frontier.
This 1864 fort, atop the Coteau des Prairies (or hills of the praries), was originally a frontier army outpost called Fort Wadsworth. The site was chosen because it provided a strong natural defense, an ample supply of lime and clay for making bricks, an abundance of lake water for drinking and a thick stand of trees for timber and fuel.
Visitor Center with interpretive displays and gift shop is open daily from Open House Weekend through September. Guided tours are available, please call ahead.
Join the festivities for entertainment, culture and history during the annual Fort Sisseton Historical Festival. The festival features period entertainment and activities and attracts thousands of visitors each year.
Activities:
Birdwatching
Boating
Camping
Canoeing/Kayaking
Fishing
Hiking
Historical interest
Snowshoeing
Amenities:
Boat Ramp
Campground
Camping cabins
Canoe/kayak rentals
Drinking water
Electric campsites
Flush toilets/showers
Game checkout
Life Jacket Checkout
Picnic Shelter
Snowshoe checkout
Visitor Center
SD Air and Space Museum
2890 Davis Drive BLDG#5208, Ellsworth AFB, SD
Come and experience the fascinating past, take a look at present aircraft technology, and learn about the great possibilities to come in aviation and space exploration.
Experience your American Journey at the SD Air & Space Museum located just outside the main gate at Ellsworth Air Force Base in the beautiful Black Hills of SD. Our legendary exhibits showcase our American journey, celebrates those military personnel who have sacrificed so much for our country, and tells the stories of not only past aviation but inspires the future of aerospace.
Our museum is filled with treasured artifacts that showcase the wonderful journey of America and the history of those who risked it all for the innovation of aviation and sacrificed for the science of aerospace.
The Journey Museum
222 New York Street, Rapid City, SD
Our Mission
The Journey Museum and Learning Center is the education venue that serves as a forum to preserve and explore the heritage of the cultures of the Black Hills region and the knowledge of its natural environment to understand and value our past, enrich our present, and meet the challenges of the future.
Mammoth Site
1800 US 18 Bypass, Hot Springs, SD
Mission Statement
The mission is the preservation, research, and interpretation of the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota and the promotion of understanding and appreciation of the Natural History of the Black Hills with an emphasis on the late Pleistocene.
Purpose
To investigate and interpret this unique late Pleistocene (Ice Age) natural death trap for mammoths and related fauna and flora.
To protect the scientific integrity of the Site through the preservation and collection management of fossils and other geological materials.
To serve as a world-class center specializing in mammoth research.
To provide comprehensive educational programming based on the science of the Site and surrounding natural history.
To foster cooperative efforts in research and education worldwide.
Vision Statement
The vision of the Mammoth Site has always been to establish a significant institution contributing to scientific knowledge and sharing that knowledge with the public. That knowledge is shared through programs, exhibits, publications and professional scientific interactions directed toward the introduction and engagement of all people to the world of the Pleistocene (Ice Age). Our aim is to continue to be a world class science center that will remain viable and relevant for generations to come.
More than 26,000 years ago, large Columbian and woolly mammoths were trapped and died in a spring-fed pond near what is now the southwest edge of Hot Springs, South Dakota.
Examining the first mammoth teeth
Landowner, Phil Anderson (center of photo) along with contracted earthmover Porky Hansen (standing), examine the first mammoth teeth along with Dan Hansen.
For centuries the bones lay buried, until discovered by chance in 1974 while excavating for a housing development, earth moving equipment exposed South Dakota's greatest fossil treasure.
Fortunately, through the work of local citizens, the Mammoth Site was preserved. Today it is the world's largest Columbian mammoth exhibit, and a world-renown research center for Pleistocene studies.
From humble beginnings a world-class museum grew.
Now enclosed and protected by a climate controlled building, the sinkhole and the in-situ exhibit of mammoth bones attracts visitors year round. The bones are displayed as they were discovered, in the now dry pond sediments for an "in-situ" exhibit. Walkways allow visitors a close-up view of the fossils. To date, 59 mammoths have been identified, along with the remains of a Giant short-faced bear, camel, llama, prairie dog, wolf, fish, and numerous invertebrates.
Mammoth Tooth
Mammoth tooth.
The importance to science.
The Mammoth Site, a nonprofit corporation (501 C 3), provides the following to the worldwide scientific community: a comparative collection of mammoth remains, Ice Age vertebrates and invertebrates, geology, and 26,000 year old environmental data. This information is the basis for investigations, exhibits, and educational programs at the Mammoth Site. In fact, the Site's methods of research, interpretation, and exhibits are studied for implementation around the world.
The “Visiting Scientist” Program
Dr. Larry Agenbroad was appointed Mammoth Site Principal Investigator in 1974 and, with his guidance, the Mammoth Site has sponsored a "Visiting Scientist" program in which a researcher is invited to study at the site during the month of July.
Dr. Agenbroad with his 1978 digging crew.
Early days of digging proved the value of the discovery...there could be the remains of up to 100 mammoths along with fossils of other Ice Age animals.
Pictured 1978: Dr. Larry Agenbroad (front row center with hat) with his digging crew. Visiting professionals have included: Dr. Adriana Torres (Mexico), Dr. Laura Luzi (Italy), world renowned mammoth researcher Dick Mol (Netherlands), Dr. Adrian Lister (England), Dr. Gennady Baryshnikov (Russia), Dr. Dan Fisher (USA), and Dr. Ralf-Deitrich Kahlke (Germany). As a slight departure natural history illustrator, Carl Dennis Buell (NY) was invited for a two week period during the 1998 Field Season. Through Buell's study of osteology, he was able to artfully "flesh-out" features of the Mammoth Site's giant short-faced bear (Arctodus simus ) and the three of the site's Columbian mammoths.
Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia, zoologist Dr. Alexei Tikhonov was the Visiting Scientist during the dig season July of 2001. While at the site, Dr. Alexei Tikhonov and Dr. Larry Agenbroad collaborated on a "soon-to-be-publication" comparing osteology of the woolly and Columbian mammoth. Alexei is a member of three professional bodies, two of which are involved exclusively with mammoths--- as Scientific Secretary of the Russian Academy of Science's Mammoth Committee, and as the Russian "Mammuthus" Program Coordinator. The "Mammuthus" program is affiliated with Discovery Channel's "Raising the Mammoth" and "Land of the Mammoth" productions.
1880 Train
222 Railroad Avenue, Hill City, SD
History:
The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills. In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.
The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory. team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.
The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line." In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too." During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."
On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history. Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.
Crazy Horse Memorial
12151 Avenue of the Chiefs, Crazy Horse, SD
Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear officially started Crazy Horse Memorial June 3, 1948. The Memorial’s mission is to honor the culture, tradition and living heritage of North American Indians. Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation demonstrates its ongoing commitment to this promise by following these objectives:
- Continuing the progress on the world’s largest mountain sculpture, carving a memorial to the spirit of legendary Lakota leader Crazy Horse and his culture;
- Providing educational and cultural programming to encourage harmony and reconciliation among all people and nations;
- Acting as a repository for Native American artifacts, arts and crafts through the Indian Museum of North America and the Native American Educational & Cultural Center;
- And by establishing and operating the Indian University of North America, and when practical, a medical training center for American Indians
High Plains Western Heritage Center
825 Heritage Drive, Spearfish, SD
About Us
The High Plains Western Heritage Center features a 5-State Regional Museum founded to honor the Old West Pioneers and American Indians of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana. Western Artifacts, Western Art, Live Animals and Family History Displays are used as a determinant of Historical Events.
In the mid 1970's, area ranchers were concerned that the story of settlement in High Plains Region would not be preserved. Two ranchers, Harry Blair and Edgar (Slim) Gardner, are considered Founders of the High Plains Heritage Society d/b/a High Plains Western Heritage Center, a Non-profit Organization.
Through Donations and Fundraising efforts, monies were accrued to Purchase Land and start Building the Structure. On September 1, 1989, a Grand Opening Ceremony took place.
Six categories of High Plains History were chosen to be honored: Pioneering, Cattle & Sheep Ranching, Rodeo, Transportation, American Indians, and Mining.
Today, the Center provides over 20,000 sq. ft. of Presentation featuring a wide range of Western Artifacts. The Center has a spacious Theatre complete with state-of-the-art Sound System. The Transportation Room features a Concord Stagecoach, Chuckwagon, "Tally Ho" Wagon, Buggies, and Sleighs. Outside Displays include a furnished One-Room Schoolhouse, Homestead Log Cabin and Antique Farm & Ranch Equipment.
Staffed mostly by over 30 Volunteers who donate their time and talent assisting with: Admissions, Bookstore, Clerical Work, Maintenance, Animal Care, and Special Events.
Many Individuals and Businesses from the area contribute time, labor, materials and funding. A cleared Drive in the Winter allows the Center to be Open Year-Round. Grain and Hay are donated to feed the live Longhorn Steers, which are displayed in the Front Pasture of a 40-acre site. The High Plains Western Heritage Center currently provides a Community Forum for Entertainment and Education. The Mission is to oversee the On-Going Historical Preservation of this Region of the West