Brian Gevik

From William McKinley to Donald Trump, 17 American Presidents have made a visit to South Dakota.

If you happen to be in Watertown this summer you might want to visit the historic Mellette House on the city's near west side. The house is a restored architectural gem built by South Dakota's first governor in 1885.The rise and fall of Arthur C. Mellette's political career mirrors the fate of his grand mansion. Both were symbols of great success and both fell to ruin.

Early Deadwood's reputation as a raucous and unlawful place in the 1870s is well known and much deserved, but another of Dakota Territory's first towns was just as wild.

As one of the first towns in Dakota Territory, Vermillion had a prominent role in the early territorial settlement of the Missouri River basin. But it all came to an end in the Spring of 1881. On today's Images of the Past we'll have a look at how a natural disaster wiped out the town and forced residents to choose between abandoning what was left or rebuilding from scratch. Joining me now is Art Rusch, a retired judge, state senator, and author of "Vermillion Before the Flood," an article published a few years back in the South Dakota State Historical Society journal.

Some of South Dakota’s first permanent white settlements were established along the Missouri River after the Yankton Sioux ceded the land to the U.S. Government in 1858. On today’s “Images of the Past,” we’ll take a look at the early history of Bon Homme county, which today includes the towns Tyndall, Tabor, Scotland and Springfield.

It took 40 years to build the Washington Monument in the heart of our nation’s capital, but work on the 555-foot 5-inch tall obelisk has never really stopped.

Union County is located in the far southeastern corner of South Dakota bordered by the Big Sioux River on the east and the Missouri River to the south.

In today's Images of the Past, a look at the very early settlement days of Sioux Falls and the counties along the eastern edge of the South Dakota-Minnesota border.

The Crystal Theatre in Flandreau opened in 1914 and has gone through several renovations. It has closed and then re-opened several times along the way. We explore the theater's meaning to the community on today's Images of the Past.

A long-running bookmobile built in 1963 is still on the job for the Potter County Free Library in Gettysburg, South Dakota. The bookmobile used to run a circuit between country schools but now spends most of it's time serving the county's small communities. Here's a look at a bookmobile stop in Hoven, a town of about 400 people.