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"History comes to life
on the Talking Trail..."

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10 Point Talking Trail

Black-and-white photo of rolling prairie grasslands in Sully County, South Dakota, overlooking a bend in the Missouri River with scattered trees in the foreground.

1193 - Arikira Village Little Bend/LaVerendrey/Lewis & Clark

The land in the Little Bend area was carved out by a melting glacier and has been home to people for over 10,000 years. In fact, the U.S. Army Corps...

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Black-and-white photo of a tall, ornate gravestone marked “Blair” standing alone in a grassy prairie cemetery, with rolling hills of Sully County, South Dakota, stretching into the distance under a partly cloudy sky.

1194 - Blair/Fairbank

Two forces shaped the early history of Fairbank Township: the railroad and a group of enterprising black settlers. When the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad...

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This 1911 photograph of Agar, South Dakota, taken from the grain elevator just a year after the town’s founding, shows a small but growing prairie community with unpaved streets, wooden storefronts, and scattered houses stretching toward the open plains.

1195 - Agar Overview

Like many towns across South Dakota, Agar was a product of the railroad. In 1909, the Chicago Northwestern Railroad was snaking its way across...

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This black-and-white photo shows a simple stone marker engraved with “Mennonite Grave Site,” standing in a grassy prairie field in Sully County, South Dakota, marking the historic resting place of early Mennonite settlers.

1196 - East Sully Stage Route/Mennonite Cemetery/Blaine School

The story of Blaine Township’s school began with David Hall who dreamed of being a teacher. In late 1883, as winter was setting in, Hall traveled...

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This black-and-white photo shows a headstone marking Pleasant Cemetery, established in 1886, with the inscription “It Is Well With My Soul,” standing in a fenced prairie field in Sully County, South Dakota.

1197 - Elk/Pleasant Cemetery/Medicine Creek

Situated on the trail from Fort Pierre to Minnesota, many early expeditions passed through eastern Sully County. The prominent Medicine Knoll west of...

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Historic photo of the Sully County Courthouse in Onida, SD, featuring a grand clock tower, columned entrance, and a nearby water tower set against open prairie.

1198 - Onida Overview

In April of 1883, Charles H. Agar, with the help of M. B. Knight and several other settlers constructed the very first building in Onida, the exact spot that would...

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Historic photo of Lake Sully near Onida, SD, showing shoreline buildings, a dock, and people by the water under a partly cloudy sky.

1199 - Sully Lake

On June 17, 1927, a crowd of about two thousand people gathered for the formal opening ceremony of Sully Lake. Dr. B. M. Hart welcomed the crowd...

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Historic 1883 photo of the first schoolhouse in Sully County at Clifton, showing the teacher standing by the small wooden building’s open door.

1200 - Clifton/Carson/Lone Tree

The town of Clifton, located 8 miles west of Onida on the south side of the Okobojo Creek, was designated the temporary county seat by territorial governor...

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Early 1900s photo of the Okobojo, SD post office, showing townspeople gathered on the porch, with a wagon and saddled horse nearby.

1201 - Okobojo

Sully County opened for settlement in April, 1883. The area around Okobojo had been surveyed several months before and several “squatters” had taken up...

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Wide view of historic Fort Sully, SD, showing the fort’s buildings along the Missouri River with hills rising in the background.

1202 - Fort Sully

Fort Sully 1—or Old Fort Sully—was built by General Alfred Sully in 1863 on the east side of the Missouri River near Farm Island. Unfortunately, there were...

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Sully County, South Dakota, organized in 1883, is located in central South Dakota, thirty miles north from South Dakota's State Capital, Pierre. The county is named after General Alfred Sully, who built Fort Sully near the Missouri River.  Sully County has two communities, Agar and Onida. Onida is the County Seat and this is where the courthouse is located.​

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Come explore all of the rich history along the Sully County, South Dakota Talking Trail!

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