PIERRE, S.D. -- The South Dakota State Historical Society’s Historic Preservation Office has installed six new interpretive signs at Fort Pierre Chouteau.

 

Fort Pierre Chouteau is located about two miles north of Fort Pierre along Fort Chouteau Road, across from the Dunes Golf Course. Crews with the City of Fort Pierre installed the signs, which follow the walking path to the monument that commemorates the site.

 

While the fort no longer stands, the site is a National Historic Landmark. Fort Pierre Chouteau was built as a fur trading post for the American Fur Company in 1832. Bought by the U.S. Army in 1855 for use as a military fort, the post was abandoned two years later.

 

The property was included in the Laramie Treaty of 1868 for American Indian reservation land. In 1869 Congress reduced the size of the reservation, which gave homesteaders access to the land. By 1890, James “Scotty” Philip was living on a claim which encompassed the site of the fort.

 

The site remained pasture until 1930, when it was deeded to the state of South Dakota. The surrounding tract of land was given to the state in 1970. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April of 1976 and became a National Historic Landmark in July 1991.

 

The State Historic Preservation Office produced the signs as part of its Central South Dakota Heritage Tourism Education Program, a two-year project to promote Pierre and Fort Pierre’s historic properties.

 

Other activities funded through the program have included preparing preservation plans for Pierre and Fort Pierre, developing an online travel itinerary, printing brochures, and developing educational tools to help other communities promote their historic properties. The program is funded by a federal Preserve America grant and a donation from the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad.

 

For more information on the interpretive signs or the Central South Dakota Heritage Tourism Education Program, please contact Jason Haug at (605) 773-3458.