South Dakota

South Dakota

President: William McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, William Taft

Date(s) and Start Point: October 4 — Vermillion

Sponsoring Club: AVA-0160, Prairie Wanderers Volkssport Club

Website for Event Information: http://www.ava.org/gen3/data/event_details.asp?eventid=80393

History Lesson: On October 14, 1899 President McKinley made a brief stop in Vermillion and gave a ten minute speech at the Railroad Depot. On September 1, 1890 future president Teddy Roosevelt made a campaign stop and gave a speech at the Railroad Depot. On September 29, 1908 presidential candidates William Taft and William Bryant made campaign stops in Vermillion on the same day.

President: Calvin Coolidge, Dwight D. Eisenhower

Start Point: Brookings - 10 km Walk (YR0045) Jan 1 - Dec 31

Sponsoring Club: AVA-0160, Prairie Wanderers Volkssport Club

History Lesson: On September 10, 1927, President Coolidge and his wife, Grace, laid the cornerstone for the Sylvan Theatre when he was on campus to dedicate the new Lincoln Memorial Library. The nine-foot by two-foot granite stone was etched with an inscription to commemorate the Coolidge visit. He made the visit at the invitation of State President Charles Pugsley, who had worked with the US Department of Agriculture and had become a friend of Coolidge. Then he spoke to an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 people who gathered on the Sylvan Theatre Green.
On October 4, 1952, candidate Eisenhower gave a speech to 12,000 people at the Coolidge Sylvan Theatre. He also gave a big wave to the photograph while sitting in the Bummobile with Hobo Day Grand Pooba John Young.

President: Calvin Coolidge

Start Point: Deadwood - 10 km Walk (YR1914) Apr 1 - Nov 30

Sponsoring Club: AVA-0274, Black Hills Volkssport Association

History Lesson: President Coolidge attended the Days of '76 celebration in Deadwood in 1927. He was greeted as "Chief Leading Eagle" by a delegation of South Dakota Indians. After weeks of hard work by many people, Senator Norbeck was able to announce that the President was coming to the Black Hills. they days remaining before the President's arrival in June 1927 were busy ones. Roads were graveled so the President's caravan wouldn't have to drive in the mud. Hundreds of trout were stocked in the streams around the Game Lodge so that the President and his guests would have good finish. The high school building in downtown Rapid City was converted into office space for the President's staff.
President Coolidge's visit to the Black Hills was a great success for South Dakota. The President did change his mind about the McNary-Haugen bill -- when Congress pass another version of the bill in 1928, he vetoed it again -- but the President's visit brought the state publicity that could not have been bought with any amount of money. Newspaper and magazine reporters with the President wrote stories about the beauty of the Black Hills. On August 10, 1927, Coolige dedicated Mount Rushmore, and the first rock was blasted off the part of the mountain that would become Washington's head.
Plans to improve highways across the state were expanded after Coolidge's visit. Towns in eastern and central South Dakota could see that travelers headed for the Badlands and Black Hills would spend money and create jobs as they traveled across the state. Railroads planned new train service to the Black Hills for vacationers. A major hotel project, the Alex Johnson in Rapid City, was built in 1928.

President: Bill Clinton

Start Point: Mitchell - 5/10 km Walk (YR0186) Apr 1 - Sep 30

Sponsoring Club: AVA-0160, Prairie Wanderers Volkssport Club

History Lesson: The trail goes past the Corn Palace where John F. Kennedy spoke on September 22, 1960 while on the campaign trail for US President.
The trail also goes past the McGovern Center for Leadership and Public Service which also contains the George McGovern Library. George McGovern ran for president in 1972 against Richard Nixon. The center was dedicated on October 7, 2006. One of the featured speakers that spoke to the crowd of over 6,000 people on that day was former president Bill Clinton.

President: Calvin Coolidge

Start Point: Rapid City - 10 km Walk (YR0045) Jan 1 - Dec 31

Sponsoring Club: AVA-0274, Black Hills Volkssport Association

History Lesson: In the early 1930s, the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce had its "boosterism" appetite whetted when Rapid City served as the Summer White House for President Calvin Coolidge in 1927. (He issued his famous "I do not choose to run for president in 1928" statement from his office in Rapid City High School.)

President: William McKinley

Start Point: Sioux Falls - 10 km Walk (YR1414) Apr 1 - Oct 31

Sponsoring Club: AVA-0160, Prairie Wanderers Volkssport Club

History Lesson: Train loads of visitors swarmed to Sioux Falls on October 14, 1899 to see the first president ever to visit South Dakota. The city appeared to be "one blaze of national colors." Hundreds of flags waved, and patriotic bunting stretched "from roofs of the many larger buildings to the very sidewalks." When President William McKinley's six-car presidential train pulled into the Milwaukee depot, he was greeted by the deafening noise of the steam whistle blasts, clanging bells, and prolonged cheering by a high-spirited crowd.
A horse-drawn carriage brought the president to a reviewing stand at 9th Street and Main Avenue. There he welcomed home some 90 soldiers of Sioux Falls Company D First South Dakota Infantry Regiment. He also praised the men for their bravery in battle in the Philippine Islands campaign. Two years later in Buffalo, New York an avowed anarchist used a handkerchief to conceal a revolver in his hand, and shot McKinley at close range. The nations 25th president died September 14, 1901.

Updated June 25, 2008