and out of the community via the Missouri
River. The gold rush also helped Yankton
to cement its place in western lore: In
1877, the territorial capital hosted the
murder trial of Jack McCall, who was
convicted of killing Wild Bill Hickok
in Deadwood. McCall was hanged
in March 1878 near what is now
the site of 31st St. and Highway 81.
McCall is buried in an unmarked grave
somewhere in the Yankton cemetery.
The city’s days as a territorial capital
were numbered, as the governing seat
was removed from the town under highly
questionable political means in 1883 - a
bitter fact that local residents remembered
for generations. When North and South
Dakota joined the union in 1889, Pierre was
chosen as the state capital.
The Missouri River had always been a key
facet of Yankton’s character, but as the 20th
century arrived and travel advancements
were made, there was still no permanent
bridge here. Pontoon bridges were
deployed in the summer, and travelers had
to make their way across the frozen river
during the winter.
City officials knew that had to change in
order for Yankton to grow and prosper. In
1924, the Meridian Bridge, a double-decked
structure along what was later called the
Meridian Highway, was opened. The bridge
was built largely with local funds, and the
city spent the following 29 years collecting
tolls to pay off the debt. The books were
cleared in 1953, leading to a “Toll Free in ‘53”
celebration.
The river’s unpredictability was also an
inescapable part of Yankton life. Major
floods - notably the flood of 1881, which
wiped out the nearby town of Green
Island - were constant scourges to Yankton
residents.
Finally, in the 1950s, this changed with the
construction of the Gavins Point Dam west
of Yankton. This dam was part of a system
of six federal dams created by Congress in
the 1940s - a great experiment to tame the
wild river. In 1957, Gavins Point Dam was
officially completed, and besides bringing
the rampaging river mostly under control, it
10 – Yankton, South Dakota
created
Lewis and Clark
Lake, giving the Yankton
area a new state park that now attracts
more than a million visitors a year and is the
most popular South Dakota tourist draw
outside of the Black Hills.
As Yankton entered the 21st century, it
faced new bridge concerns.
The Meridian Bridge, has become
probably the city’s most recognizable
landmark, was aging and had mostly
outlived its usefulness as a motor-vehicle
structure. Plans were finalized to build a
new bridge just to the west, but there were
fears that the old bridge would be torn
down and a piece of history lost.
However, a deal was struck with
federal officials to save the old bridge by
converting it into a pedestrian walkway
that would be owned by the city. In the fall
of 2008, the Discovery Bridge - named in
honor of the Lewis and Clark expedition was officially opened. Three years later, the
Meridian Bridge was reborn as a pedestrian
walkway that has turned into a popular
recreational attraction. The city is now
planning to construct a plaza on the north
end of the bridge as part of its ongoing
commitment to develop the area.
Yankton in the 21st century may not look
much like Yankton of the 19th century
(even though there are several historical
sites in the community), but the spirit is still
growing strong. The town is changing and
growing with the times. There is not only
plenty of history to see and enjoy in the
town, but also plenty of history left to be
written.