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Yankton: 'The Mother City of the Dakotas'

Original territorial capital building in Yankton
Simply Smiles Children's Village
Original territorial capital building in Yankton

This interview is from SDPB's daily public-affairs show, In the Moment, hosted by Lori Walsh.

Some South Dakotans refer to it as the "Mother City of the Dakotas." Yankton’s location on the Missouri River was important for the fur and steamboat trade well before Dakota Territory was organized in 1861. Its importance as a hub for trade and politics only grew in the years before Statehood.

Crystal Nelson, Executive Director of the Dakota Territorial Museum at the Mead Cultural Education Center in Yankton joins me now for today’s “Images of the Past” and a look at Yankton and Yankton County history.