Top Places for SD Suffrage
South Dakota's long battle for women’s right to vote played out across the state, in opera houses, private homes and marbled halls of power. Here’s a guide to some of the historic places on our trail to suffrage. Most are open to the public, so make plans to visit them on your next opportunity to travel South Dakota.
Cultural Heritage Museum
The Cultural Heritage Museum is the flagship institution for the South Dakota State Historical Society. Her Vote. Her Voice. is a project of the SD State Historical Society and works in partnership with the State and the Historical Society Foundation to raise awareness and education for women’s history and their contributions to South Dakota. It currently houses an exhibit on the suffrage movement within the state: “The Right is Ours: Women Win the Vote.” The exhibit focuses on the story of South Dakota women, men and organizations that supported our state giving most women the right to vote in 1918 and national ratification in 1920. The gallery will also explore the multiple arguments made for suffrage as well as opposition to the movement. It will be on display through Nov. 3, 2020
Pickler Mansion
John and Alice Pickler were a power couple. He was a lawyer and one of the state’s first congressmen. She was president of the state’s Equal Suffrage Association. Their Faulkton home, known as the Pink Castle, has been preserved as a museum and is open afternoons from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Huron’s Pyle House
Mamie Pyle and her daughter, Gladys were leaders in the movement. When a blizzard threatened attendance at the special legislative session to enact the amendment she spent three days and nights on the phone, imploring lawmakers to make the trip to Pierre. Gladys became a prominent state politician. The Pyle home on Idaho Avenue in Huron is open to visitors by appointment.
Hot Springs Hotel
Sandstone is the basis of Hot Springs’ signature architecture, and the grandest example is the 5-story Evans Hotel, which was the site of numerous suffrage gatherings in the southern Black Hills. The hotel has been converted to apartments, but visitors can stand on the street where national suffragist leader Clara Colby rallied supporters in 1896
Lead’s Opera House
The paint was hardly dry on the Homestake Opera House in Lead when national suffrage advocate and eventual Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams spoke there in October of 1914. Many other leaders of women’s rights soon followed, including Rose Bower, the Rapid City suffragist who famously plaiyed her cornet to attract a crowd. The opera house has recently been restored to its original grandeur and has impressive historic exhibits on the second floor.
Sioux Falls’ Old Courthouse
The always-popular Old Courthouse Museum has developed a fine exhibit called “The Bottle and the Ballot” which explores the relationship between the suffrage and prohibition movements in South Dakota. Bring your camera and take a selfie with cardboard cut-outs of leading female characters from that era,
Pierre’s Grand Opera House
Pierre pioneer Charles Hyde completed his Grand Opera House in 1906, and the ostentatious name still applies. Several notable suffrage events were held there over the next 10 years, including an ant-suffrage rally on Nov. 2, 1916 featuring Lucy Price, who argued that a woman’s right to vote threatened the traditional family. The Pierre Players, a community theater group, now entertains there.
Our State Capitol
Of course, all things political eventually wind up in the marble halls of the state capitol in Pierre. Much of the suffrage drama happened there, including a 1911 rally that overflowed from the spacious rotunda. Suffragists handed red carnations to lawmakers who pledged support.
Pierre’s Hipple House
John and Ruth Hipple, prominent pioneer newspaper publishers in Pierre, built a beautiful Praire-style residence at 219 N. Highland in 1913. Both devoted their resources and talents to the suffrage movement. When victory came in 1919, Ruth wrote this to Mamie Pyle, her Huron counterpart: “I feel more like crying than anything else. The cars are flying about town with flags waving and horns tooting … I have to go wipe my nose and eyes and thank God for it all.” Read more about the Hipple House.
Aberdeen’s Dakota
Prairie Museum
Dacotah Prairie Museum has recreated Matilda Joslyn Gage’s parlor, which was considered by some to be the “northeast coast connection” to the suffrage movement. Gage’s son and daughter lived in Aberdeen, and grandchildren, who continued to reside there into the 1980s, donated some of the suffrage leader’s furniture and keepsakes to the museum. Curators used the items to fashion the parlor.
HELP SAVE HISTORY
The ratification of the 19th Amendment was possible because activists of all kinds came together to work toward a common goal. Today, groups across the state are joining forces to preserve local suffrage history. Join the cause.
SOUTH DAKOTA SUFFRAGE
Women were spurring change and fighting for the right to vote even before South Dakota gained statehood. Learn about the local activists who led the charge and the journey that secured the right to vote in our state.
SHOP FOR A CAUSE
From campaign buttons to graphic tees, wear the Her Vote. Her Voice. message with pride. Each piece of merch sold helps preserve South Dakota history and honor the ongoing work of women’s right to vote. Plus, it’s all really cool stuff.