South Dakota Ag Connection - S.D. Properties Added to National Register of Historic Places

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S.D. Properties Added to National Register of Historic Places
South Dakota Ag Connection - 01/21/2021

Two more South Dakota properties were recently added to the National Register of Historic Places, the South Dakota State Historical Society has announced.

The properties, listed in November and January, include the Sisseton School in Sisseton and the Margaret Burger Apartment House in Sioux Falls.

The National Register is the official federal list of properties identified as?important in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, and culture. The State Historical Society's Historic Preservation Office in Pierre works in conjunction with the National Park Service, which?oversees the?National Register program, to list the properties.?

"South Dakota has a very rich history and culture ranging from prehistoric Indian villages and homesteader cabins, to unique businesses and richly detailed historic neighborhoods -- which are all wonderful testaments to our state," said Ted M. Spencer, state historic preservation officer and director of the State Historic Preservation Office.

Buildings, sites, structures, and objects at least 50 years old possessing historical significance may qualify for the National Register, per the National Park Service guidelines. Properties must also maintain their historic location, design, materials, and association. Listing on the National Register does not place any limitations on private property owners by the federal government.?

Following is more information about these newly listed properties.

Sisseton School, Sisseton

The Sisseton School was built in 1938 at 302 E. Maple St. in Sisseton. It is listed for its significance in the areas of education, entertainment/recreation, social history, economics, and architecture.

The school served the educational needs of the community until the early 2000s. Sporting events, theatrical plays, and musical concerts hosted in the school also filled an important recreation and entertainment niche in Sisseton. Additionally, the school is significant for its direct association with a large New Deal project in a rural area severely impacted during the Great Depression. The construction of the school and associated dormitories, which no longer exist, has had lasting social and economic impacts in Sisseton and surrounding rural areas.

Margaret Burger Apartment House, Sioux Falls

The Margaret Burger Apartment House was built in 1919 at 619 S. Main Avenue in Sioux Falls. The National Historic Register will list it due to its significance in the areas of architecture and social history as an example of multi-family housing developed for the city's growing white-collar professional class in the post-World War I and post-World War II periods, from 1919 to 1970.

Of the known existing apartment houses in Sioux Falls, the Margaret Burger Apartment House retains a high level of integrity to represent this building type on the city landscape in its simplified Craftsman/Prairie style. Its character-defining features include two-and-a-half story massing, a low-pitched hipped roof with dormers and flared boxed eaves, full-width front porches with historic wood finishes, wood clapboard siding, a stained wood staircase, and one-over-one wood sash windows.

For more information on the National Register or other historic preservation programs, contact the State Historic Preservation Office at the Cultural Heritage Center, 900 Governors Drive, Pierre, SD 57501-2217; telephone 605-773-3458 or website history.sd.gov/Preservation (click on National Register of Historic Places in the right column). For information about membership in the State Historical Society, call 605-773-6000 or visit history.sd.gov/membership.

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