History · Brookings

29 landmarks tell Brookings’s story

The public archives hold just one old photo of Brookings. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

1old photo or paper

29historic places

22famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Brookings’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Brookings’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtBrookings University Residential Historic District protects 303 historic buildings.Landmarks on the Register29 places on the National Register. #5 in SD.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Famous sons and daughtersGene Okerlund, Jim Weaver and 20 more were born here.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

29 listings protect 504 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

504

each building in a district counts

first listed

1976

Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Depot

in South Dakota

by listings

BuildingsDistrictsSitesStructures

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne5

Renaissance Revival4

Art Deco4

Colonial Revival3

Classical Revival3

Georgian Revival2

Chicago and Northwestern Railroad DepotBuilding

Fishback HouseGeorgian Revival · Built 1895

Brookings County CourthouseRenaissance Revival

Stock Judging PavilionBuilt 1918

Carnegie Public LibraryPrairie Style · Built 1915

Wenona Hall and Wecota HallNeo-Classical

Brookings City HallBeaux Arts Classicism · Built 1912

Trygstad Law and Commerce BuildingRenaissance Revival · Built 1918

All 29 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Start Brookings’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Brookings’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewA Harvest field: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

The story

How Brookings came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Brookings.

Read it all →

The county and city were both named after one of South Dakota's pioneer promoters, Wilmot Brookings. Brookings set out for the Dakota Territory in June 1857. He arrived at Sioux Falls on August 27, 1857, and became one of the first settlers there. He and his group represented the Western Town Company. After a time in Sioux Falls, Brookings and a companion set out for the Yankton area to locate a town in an area that was soon to be ceded by the Native Americans. This trip began in January 1858, and the two soon encountered a blizzard that froze Brookings's feet, which both had to be amputated.

ChaptersPioneer Medary Railroad

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Brookings, 1880 to 1942

Woven from the archive, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1880In the archiveA Harvest field
1895BuiltFishback House is built
20th century
1912BuiltBrookings City Hall is built
1914Born hereRobert H. Burris is born here
1915BuiltCarnegie Public Library is built
1918BuiltStock Judging Pavilion is built
1926Born hereGerald E. Brown is born here
1927Born hereJim Weaver is born here
1942Born hereGene Okerlund is born here

By decade

Brookings, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s1 item

1880A Harvest field

1890s–1990snothing yet

Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Add from your album

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewA Harvest field, 1880

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Brookings’s page.

Retake this view · +15

Famous people

22 famous people were born in Brookings

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Gene OkerlundAmerican professional wrestling interviewer and… · b. 1942

Jim WeaverAmerican politician · b. 1927

Gerald E. BrownAmerican theoretical physicist · b. 1926

Robert H. BurrisAmerican biochemist · b. 1914

Ray EllefsonAmerican basketball player · b. 1927

Brother JedAmerican evangelical preacher · b. 1943

Stories next door

History across the town line

AuroraIts story Medary2 historic places TrentonIts story

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Weigh in

Has Brookings changed for the better?

Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.

Start a conversation

From the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (5), the National Register of Historic Places (29), Wikipedia and Wikidata for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.