80 YEARS AGO
Jan. 25, 1917 Lyman County Argus, Oacoma
Lyman County first opened for settlement
Monday, Feb. 10, 1890, when a gun was fired off at
Chamberlain to signify that the great Sioux
Reservation, consisting of 14 counties west of the
Missouri River, was open for settlement.
Land was taken under what was known as
"squatter's rights". Terms-$1.25 per acre paid to the
US Government and must reside on the quarter
for five years; a quarter of land per home
The only settlement in the county
previous to opening the reservation, was down-river
(southwest) a short distance from Oacoma, called Lower
Brule. Many people were employed by the US
Government and lived there to take care of the
Indians. There were churches, schools,
shops, warehouses and offices; a
post trader who kept merchandise and a court
consisting of Indians before whom the Indians settled
their controversies, and a number I of houses
and other buildings used for different kinds of work
were erected there.
A provision made by an Act of
Congress to open land for settlement. Indians wishing to stay,
could. Others left for the reservation
north up-river. The agency settlement remained on the river for
several years after the homesteaders came. The Indians were scattered all
over the county in separate camps, and came in
at stated times for supplies.
Oacoma was started mostly by a
lot that came from Plankinton who took great
interest in building up a town. They named the town
Sherman. Sherman was short-lived; a dispute among
themselves over the interests of different parties
caused the US Govt. to require all to move
off the site. Soon, another attempt was made
to start a town, calling it Gladstone. The parties were again ordered off
by US authorities. Some moved a distance north and the
site required a name.
Dr. James Rigg of
Plankinton gave it the name O-A-Coma. The Oacoma post office was
established at this location with Mr. Rigg as
A land office was established at
Chamberlain and there, an application for a town
site was filed for the new town of Oacoma.
history follows. Newspapers
on microfilm at Cozard Memorial Library.)
by Florence Holmes Wait, 1961
Oacoma's first school was started the
fall of 1895, in a rented store building belonging to Jay Wellman. The first
teacher was Miss Myrtle Farmer of Chamberlain. Florence Holmes, just five years
old the preceding June, was one of the first pupils, together with Mabel Kenaston, Emily and Agnes Auld and some Hickey children. Parents had to purchase
the school books for the children at the Kenaston General Store. Classes were
differentiated as "Readers." A child started in the primer then to first reader
and advanced according to his or her ability to read.
School was held the second year in the Fulford building on the south side of
Main Street with Bertha Stocks as teacher. Miss Mary Stocks also taught a year
or two. Mr. E. E. Morford taught one year. Then the school was moved to a
residence northwest of the courthouse. Miss May Griffin of Kimball taught two
years until she married Henry Juelfs and moved onto a farm at Dirkstown. Some
years later a frame two-room schoolhouse was built in the north part of Oacoma.
Mrs. C. S. Brackett of Chamberlain taught two years, also Mrs. (Dr.) Chaney,
Miss Bertha Smith, sister of Frank Smith of the Whitbeck Bank. After attending
school for 12 years, Florence Holmes was the first high school graduate; and the
first graduating exercises were held May 5, 1905, in the Christian Church.
Florence wore a new white graduating dress made by her mother and read an essay
entitled, "The Value of a Purpose." The school superintendent that year was
Professor J. D. Rouse.
The Congregational Church was organized soon after Oacoma became a
town. A minister from Chamberlain drove a horse and buggy over and held services
on Sunday afternoons in the Fulford building upstairs hall. The little
Episcopal Chapel was purchased after Lower Brule Agency was moved. The
Congregational Home Board of Missions helped to pay the $200 and the deal was
negotiated through the Episcopal Bishop Hare. The building was located on the
south side of Main Street. The Rev. George E. Brown was the first resident
pastor. He had a wife and three children, David, Jr., Jack and Helen. Preceding
that, the Rev. David Parrin had preached in Oacoma as a summer student pastor.
He later married Miss Lora Walker, whom he met there. About 1903, Rev. George W.
Dodge, a single man, came to Oacoma and began to hold religious revival meetings
in Martins' Store Hall.. They continued for several weeks that summer and
Disciples of Christ Church was organized as a result. Two lots on the west side
of Lichenstein Street two blocks north of Main Street were donated by a Mr.
Lemuel Wait and his wife. A church building was built with some volunteer labor.
It was called the Christian Church. In 1933 the little Congregational
Church building burned. By that time the Christian Church discontinued so
the Congregational Conference negotiated for the Christian Church building which
was used for several years, being served by ministers from Chamberlain. About
1960, the Oacoma Church was merged with the Chamberlain United Church of Christ
which was formerly called the Congregational Church. Sunday School was
maintained in Oacoma for a time, then the building was left vacant. With some
alteration it was finally turned into a Fellowship Memorial Hall used by the Womens Fellowship for their monthly meetings.
One of the first resident doctors in Oacoma was Dr. J. Y. Batterton.
He and his bride came from St. Louis and settled in Oacoma. He started a drug
store. Previously "patent medicines" such as "Peruna," "Lydia Linkham's Pink
Pills for Pale People," "Swamp Root," "Fletcher's Castoria," "Allen's Footease,"
along with castor oil, liniments and cough syrup, were to be bought at the
general store. After Dr. Batterton moved to Eagle Butte, a Dr. I. Ishkanian, a
Syrian by birth, came to Oacoma and was a fine physician. He arrived there in
the early thirties. He was a good singer, guitar player and took ardent part in
the establishment of the new Christian Church. But some sort of gossip or
scandal had followed him and he was forced very unfairly to leave.
Sickness and Funerals
"Consumption," now known as tuberculosis, was very common and
"consumptives" went about spitting on the street during their prolonged illness,
and mortality ran high as a result. Diphtheria was a dreaded disease and took a
great toll of lives of young and old. It was extremely contagious and sometimes
several members of one family would succumb to it. Scarlet fever caused the
death of many children as did measles, smallpox and whooping cough. Vaccination
for smallpox was just being started at the turn of the century.
Embalming was not accepted when it was first introduced. The older people
were very much opposed to it. Upon the death of a relative or friends, a coffin
was purchased in Chamberlain at the furniture store and friends "laid out," that
is washed and dressed the corpse as a friendly service. Cloths were soaked in
salt peter and kept moist over the face to prevent discoloration. Pennies tied
in bits of cloth were laid on the eyelids to keep them closed. A few geranium
blossoms picked from house plants were the first flowers used.
Kindly friends often lined the unsightly open grave with strips of
muslin. A baby's coffin was often carried on the knees of relatives to the
graveyard. "Setting up" with the corpse was a custom and presumably necessary to keep the
face cloths moistened. Several friends gathered at the home of the dead person
and stayed up all night visiting, and a lunch was always served about midnight.
Metal ornaments on the top of the coffin were often removed after the funeral
to be saved as "keepsakes."
Funeral services were usually held in the homes with a choir or quartet
providing the several songs. Long tear-provoking eulogies, sometimes scarcely
recognizable as referring to the departed person, were read at the funeral
by barbara speck, 1996
The town site, surveyed by Newton
Gilbert, was completed Aug. 19, 1891, when the 55.15 acres of land received was
surveyed and platted as Gladstone while Benjamin Harrison was president.
The patent for the town of Oacoma was obtained from the US Government July
14, 1893, by Lyman County Judge John G. Bartine, and
recorded in Register of Deeds I.N. Auld’s office July 24, 1893. The town became
the first county seat for Lyman County (1894). The original courthouse building
burned to the ground. It is believed to have been set afire by men who were
being tried for cattle rustling.
The Lyman County Courthouse was eventually moved to Kennebec in 1922,
following a near riot as people from Reliance and Iona
joined Oacoma in an effort to keep the seat in Oacoma. In an article in the
Oacoma Argus Leader, dated Nov. 14, 1922, Kennebec won the right to move the
seat to Kennebec by 11 votes. Several county officers in favor of the move were
from Kennebec, which made it difficult for Oacoma to defend the ballot boxes
which had been secured in the clerk of courts office, who also happened to be
from Kennebec and is alleged to have unlocked the doors to his office long
enough for the Kennebec men to secure the boxes before the Oacoma men discovered
the theft. In a related article in the Oacoma History Book, the following reads:
"We stood on the hill west of town and watched as
lines of cars taking the county records left for Kennebec when Oacoma lost the
Many early travelers and settlers stopped overnight at Oacoma, resting their
livestock and horses before starting for Chamberlain and parts east in the
mornings, crossing the river by ferry or pontoon in the warm months and over the
ice during the winter months.
Once the area was opened to homesteaders, the town
site grew rapidly with such necessities of life as lumberyards (two), two banks,
newspapers, blacksmith shop, restaurants, hotels, drug store, land offices,
lawyers, doctor, three grocery and general merchandise stores, fire and sheriff’s
departments, a jail, saloons, and of course, the courthouse.
The town’s first ordinance was for the control of alcohol. Graceland
Cemetery dates back to 1890, or earlier. The first school (a two-story wooden
structure) burned to the ground in 1907, and school was held in various buildings
before the new brick building of today was built in 1925. Parents bought their
children’s school books from the Kenaston General Store in 1895. Florence
Holmes-Wait was the first person to graduate from Oacoma High School, May 5,
1905. This building was used until closing permanently in 1995.
Basil Hickey built the first hotel in town; first sidewalks in 1905, on both
sides of Main Street; in 1909, sidewalks were built on the east side of Auld
Avenue to the railroad crossing, and by 1911, residents were required to build
their own sidewalks in front of their property or the town would do it for them
and bill them.
The mail schedule to Chamberlain from Oacoma in 1904, was: Lv. 6:30am, Ar.
7:45am and Lv 6:40pm, Ar 8:10pm.
In August of 1905, the railroad crossed the river; the first rail service
being the White River Valley Rail Service Co. The first telephone reached Oacoma
in July; county judge, C.S. Argo; notary, Frank Smith; reg. o deeds, Wm. V.
Cullen; county auditor, Chris Mhyre; editor and publisher of Gazette Leader, Wm.
Williamson; Lyman County Sheriff, John R. Pickett, and cattle inspector, Leo N.
First jail, 14’ wide x 9’ high, and the first organized town cleanup in
1906-07. Wm. McManus was the fire chief, street commissioner, city pound master
and town marshal, all for $50 per month. The city had purchased a 60-gallon fire
engine. Elwood Kentch was appointed town marshal Sep. 3, 1912. Oacoma almost
became a dry town Apr. 23, 1910, when 29 people voted against selling liquor and
30 voted for. Also in 1910, the city purchased 220’ of fire hose and a fire
department was formed with Frank McManus, chief.
Some taxes noted include: Bartine’s taxes for ½ block of land in 1907- $75;
Peter Dirks was taxed $50 for a diamond ring in 1909; J.E. Stanley assessed $100
for an automobile in 1912; Frank Harmon was assessed for two cows, and Charley
Hodgin a tractor, in 1937. A poll tax in 1909, of $1.50 for each able-bodied male
21 and over. And, last but not least, a dog tax of $1.50 for each male, and
$2.00 for female dogs.
A mild earthquake shook the town early in the morning of Jan. 2, 1922. No
damage done although some dishes were rattled and spilled onto the floor.
The city’s artesian water well was drilled in 1936, by A.V. Depue under WPA
Docket 7414. A fee of six dollars per year was charged each resident with a tap.
In 1938, the Oacoma Town Hall was built (from lumber from the old abandoned
courthouse) on lots 11, 12, 13 and 14 of Block 13, donated by M.Q. Sharpe.
The Oacoma City Park committee and many volunteers from the community
created the beautiful park Oacoma now has. Part of the equipment found in the
park today came from the West Park Campground (1995) located where Cedar Shore
Resort sits (NE of Oacoma along the banks of the Missouri River) today. The
equipment and picnic shelters and barbecue grills, as well as the two mandatory
out-houses, were moved over to Oacoma prior to construction of the resort.
New water and sewer lines accommodate Oacoma's water system installed in
At this time (1996), Oacoma has the distinction of being the fastest growing small
community in South Dakota with the construction of two fast-food businesses,
three motels, the resort, Chevrolet dealership and western wear store, two
convenience stores, two car washes, laundromat and three apartment buildings,
all in the '90s!
By 1998, the city had installed concrete streets
throughout the town with the exception of Main Street and a portion of Dougan Ave. Housing development
continues in the Priebe Addition north of town and in the village proper. A
second campground, Hi 'n Dri, sits north of the business loop, Exit 260.
Note - 2008: All main streets in Oacoma are
concrete. Many new homes have been constructed along the county road
leading north out of Oacoma with an additional small housing development located
on the flats beyond the top of the hill. Six houses have been constructed .
Cedar Shore Resort has added a convention center to their facility, and the Town
of Oacoma built a large beautiful community/convention center at I-90 Exit 260.
A Shell station/convenience store, second car dealership and large antiques
facility have also been established along the business loop. Oacoma's oldest
business, Mueller's Store/Al's Oasis has been enlarged to include a small mall
area between the restaurant and expanded grocery store. Oacoma's newest business
(2007) is a branch of First Dakota Bank located in Al's
Written by Ben Brave. Taken from SD
The town site of Oacoma grew up near the Lower Brule Indian
Agency in the south central section of South Dakota. The agency was located on
the flats and foothills two miles west of the Bice property, southwest of
present-day Oacoma. Approximately 1,400 Lower Brule Sioux Indians were encamped
there. The historic Lower Brule Indian Agency Cemetery can be seen at the bottom
of the west hill out of Oacoma. The main agency house (Atey Api Ote) was used
for officer’s quarters where business matters and treaties took place.
Near the agency, a village of about 100 log cabins, an Episcopal Church, a
Mission house, shops, office, warehouses and trader post and a school stood.
Originally named Nobleton, then Sherman, and finally, the name was changed to
Gladstone as indicated on many abstracts of property in the west half of Oacoma.
On the east side of Gladstone, (Aug. of 1890) the US Govt. established a post
office named Oacoma.
Sept. 11, 1888, commissioners came and were welcomed at the agency
headquarters for the great treaty of the Grand Sioux Reservation under the
Cleveland Administration. The chiefs signed or touched the pen and went to other
reservations in all of Dakota Territory. July 1, 1889, Atey Api Ote opened
headquarters for Rep. Commissioners, Gen. Crooks, Senator Warner and Gov. Foster
who had been sent for required signatures for a majority (75% of male Indian
population) for approval to move the reservation. July 4, there was a
celebration at Chamberlain and there was a great gathering of both white and red
When the Indian Reservation was moved 40 miles north, all buildings were
sold or torn down. The officer’s quarters building was sold to the highest
bidder, a Mr. Luke C. Hayes who sold it to a Mr. Kenaston who removed it to
Oacoma to a place where Iron Nation used to locate. It was later remodeled and
became the residence of Judge and Mrs. William Williamson, Congressman. It is
perhaps the oldest and best known house, and worthy of recognition in Lyman
County. Williamson’s sold the house to M.Q. "Ted" Sharpe, former Governor of
The reservation was moved and the following winter, 1890, the great Sioux
Reservation was opened for settlement. The people rushed across American Island
and the site of Sherman/Gladstone/Oacoma.