The railroad reached Vermillion 150 years ago.

Southern Dakota was one of the first railroads in Dakota Territory, and the first to successfully operate in the area that would become the state of South Dakota. The tracks began in Sioux City in 1872 and reached Vermillion, Dakota Territory at the end of that year. In 1873, the tracks were completed to Yankton, Dakota Territory. 

Map showing Dakota Southern Railroad from Sioux City to Yankton.

Students arriving in Vermillion by train.

Six men standing for their picture at the train station in Vermillion, South Dakota.

Information from South Dakota’s Railraods [sic]: an Historic Context, by Hufstetler, Mark, and Michael Bedeau. South. Dakota State Historical Society, 1998. The book is the the South Dakota State Documents Collection.

The map shown is a small portion of Territory of Dakota, by S. Augustus Mitchell, Jr., 1879. The map is in the Chilson Collection.

Photographs are from the USD Photograph Collection and are also in the Digital Library of South Dakota.