The history of the Town of Herrick began in 1904 when Gregory County west of the 99th parallel opened for homesteading settlement.  Gregory County's story is such an interesting one, you might want to spend a minute on it when you finish with the history of Herrick.

In 1904, land west of the 99th parallel was opened for white settlement.  One of the government towns platted out contained the Post Office of Willette.  Within a few months, the name had been changed to Herrick, named for lawyer Samuel Herrick who had offices in Herrick, SD and Washington, DC and specialized in Homestead Law.

  In 1898, Fairfax has claimed the honor of county seat.  Herrick was built with a Court House Square on its plat map and sidewalks for a mile around.  Located in the center of the county, Herrick claimed the geographic right to the office.   In 1916 a bitter struggle for the court house ensued, and Burke won the county seat battle.  Herrick  had to content itself with using Court House Square with a park, ball field and water works instead.

The Great Depression, which lasted through the 1930's in America (but began in South Dakota with bank closings as early as 1922 and didn't release its hold in South Dakota until the early 1950's), had a great impact on Herrick--for good and bad. 

The good news is, many of the original buildings remain.  Within 2 blocks in all directions of Herrick's central intersection, 23 buildings still stand which were built between 1904 and 1920.  [Edna Sieh and her family recently donated a map of Herrick's first building sites to the Elevator.  It was drawn by Harold Sieh, Jay Ellston and Buzz Deurfeldt.   Come see it on display at the Elevator this summer!]

The bad news is, many buildings remain because their was not enough trade in town to warrant their upkeep or restoration.

The good news is that a new spirit of progress has hit the town, and many buildings are being preserved and renovated for downtown businesses.  In Herrick, we're taking our history into the future with us.

This page was created and is sponsored by The Elevator  of Herrick.