Milbank Middle School seventh-graders composed essays on subjects of historical significance to Milbank or Grant County for a seventh grade writing class project. Cassidy... Milbank Seventh Grade Essay Winners Chosen

Milbank Middle School seventh-graders composed essays on subjects of historical significance to Milbank or Grant County for a seventh grade writing class project. Cassidy Schwagel was the first place winner with her piece, This is Milbank. Paul Van Dover placed second with his essay, The History of Big Stone Lake. Laney Forrette was third with Manders Brothers. The winners also received a prize of Ol’ Mill Bucks courtesy of the Grant County Library.

Pictured: Cassidy Schwagel, Laney Forrette and Paul Van Dover

This is Milbank
by Cassidy Schwagel
First Place
Our courthouse has an amazing story behind it. The story starts with how we became the county seat, thenhow the courthouse in Milbank was
destroyed, and it ends with our beautiful courthouse today. The first step for us to have the courthouse in Milbank was becoming the county seat.
The first step we had to overcome to have the courthouse in Milbank was becoming the county seat. We weren’t always the county seat. In 1880 the original county seat was in Big Stone City. When people first started settling in the new town of Milbank, they thought the county seat should be in a more central location. Milbank was trying to find a wayto get more votes. Milbank got Wilmot in on their plan, but later on Wilmot found out that Milbank had asked another town to help. Wilmot went against Milbank and voted for Wilmot to be the county seat. On the day of the voting the votes were claimed to be fraudulent, and Big Stone said that the county seat was already in Big Stone and they would keep it there. At some point the
records in question were stolen one night by horse and buggy, and brought under armed guard from one place to another. Milbank officially
became the county seat on the 29th of October, 1881. These courthousefights are still considered to be themost dramatic in all of South
Dakota’s early history (Levisen). There are still many more parts to the story of the courthouse though. The next part of the story is how the first
courthouse in Milbank was destroyed. The next part of the story of the courthouse is how the courthouse was destroyed. It started with arson
between five and six o’clock Tuesday morning July 30, 1895. We presume that George M. Clark was the person that set the fire to try and cover his
embezzlement of county money. Mrs. M. H. Wiseman, who resided opposite of the jail, smelled smoke and upon looking out the doors saw flames in front of the courthouse. Aborder at the City Hotel saw thesmoke, and ran to the engine house, and rang the alarm bell. Hose carts were quickly on the ground, but bythe time they had a hose stretched to the courthouse, it was to late. The whole courthouse was up in a mass of flames. This fire was one of the quickest recorded in history. Auditor Forsberg broke through a window in his office, stepped inside, and seized a few books, narrowly escaping
being caught. Fred Lindquist pulled a typewriter out of the State Attorney Lockhart’s office and Henry S. Volkmar reached in a window and
pulled an armful of file boxes and a few books. These were saved in the Attorney’s office. As the building rapidly disappeared from view, the fireproof
vault between the Treasurer’s and Register of Deeds’ offices and thebig iron safe in the Clerk of Courts’ office, were exposed to view. Dismay
followed the discovery that the door in the Treasurer’s end of the vaultwas open several inches. The county officials declared that the door was securely closed at the closing of the previous day’s business. It was presumed that the intense heat had warped the door open. They formed a line in an effort to pass the papers and books out of the safe. Everything of value was saved, but they were either scorched, or in a wet condition. At the same time, Treasurer Dore, Stan Farley, and others had thrown water into the end of the Treasurer’s end of the vault to save the most important vouchers and papers. When the safe was opened, it was found that the contents were unharmed. In the office of the Clerk of Courts the big iron safe had contained its contents intact. It contained all the probate records, marriage records, final naturalization records, judgement dockets, mechanics liens, minutes of court, criminal registration of actions from January 1, 1895, to the date of the fire. The register of civil actions prior to January 1, 1895, was lost. The naturalization records of declaration of intention were also lost. All the court files were lost also. All books and papers in the office of the county superintendent of schools and State Attorney’s offices were lost. The books were moved soon after the fire into a brick building on Main Street. The books were placed on racks to dry out. The Farmers’ Bank Building had a fireproof vault, so the county commissioners rented it for the county offices. The Carter Publishing Company of Pierre, South Dakota, secured the contract for rebuilding the records and the Register of Deeds Mortell took them to Pierre and remained there until he could bring them back to Milbank (Black 90). This is a major part of the story of the courthouse, but we can’t end here. The last part of the story about the Grant County Courthouse is our beautiful courthouse today. Our courthouse today was rebuilt in 1915. The architect’s name was Charles E. Bell. Most people knew him as C.E. Bell. Charles designed the capitol in Pierre also. He was born and raised
in Norfolk, Virginia. The courthouse was built two feet higher, but the ground dimensions stayed the same as the old courthouse. On December
second, the county officers commenced moving from the Berkin Building and by the fourth, business was resumed. That is the story behind our courthouse today. That is the story behind how we became the county seat , then how the Grant County Courthouse was destroyed, and how it ended with our beautiful courthouse today. That is the long, but interesting story behind the courthouse. I hope you found this information interesting.

History of Big Stone Lake
by Paul Van Dover
Second Place
Big Stone Lake is on the eastern edge of the Grant County border line. Big Stone is a good spot to go fishing. There are many great fishing places as well as quite a few fishing tournaments during the spring and summer. The max length of the lake is 26 miles, the surface area is 12,610 acres, and max depth is 16 feet. Big Stone Lake has some interesting landmarks, a rich history and many islands. Big Stone Lake has some interesting landmarks. A long time ago there were some buildings that were torn down to make space for other buildings. One such building was the Tilleteachett. It was a school and it was instituted from 1895-1920. It was also a site of teacher education. The Pollecookett was a small restaurant and was also instituted from 1895-1920. Then the last interesting landmark is the Minnwarmett. It is the site of Chautauqua Simpson Park. In its assembly it had a hotel which started in 1885, a store that started in 1929, and a club which started in 1939-1968. Big Stone Lake does not just have interesting landmarks, but it also has a rich history. Big Stone Lake also has a rich history. There were many sturgeon in Big Stone Lake a long time ago. The last sturgeon was fished out of the lake in 1946. It was 72 inches long and 110 pounds. In 2016 they started to put sturgeon back into the lake. The reasons they put them back into the lake, is to clean the lake environment and they were native to Big Stone Lake. According to John Andrews, “The Muskegon was hailed as the finest boat ever on Big Stone Lake in 1909.” (Andrews). A storm and possible tornado sunk the steam engine transportation boat on July 10, 1917 (Andrews). Big Stone Lake doesn’t just have a rich history, but it also has many islands. Big Stone Lake has seven islands. The first of the islands is Skeleton Island. It is not much more than a pile of rocks, a tree and some shrubs.The second island is Kite Island. It is larger than Skeleton Island and could be habitable. Rumor has it that there was an air strip and an illegal still during the 1920s or 1930s. Off to the west side of Kite Island is Mud Islandwhich is bigger than Skeleton Island. Next parallel to each other are Pancake Island and Frying Pan Island. Many fishermen have had great catches around these islands. The next island is Manhattan and it has summer and year-round homes on it. The last island is Goose Island which sits in a bay known for its big fish. I bet you could guess what lives there, yes geese, although pelicans do go to the island also. Big Stone Lake has some interesting landmarks, a rich history and many islands. Listed above are some facts that are about the past of Big Stone Lake. Big Stone Lake is pretty long, can get awful rough, as the Muskegon found out, but is still a good place to go fishing. Big Stone Lake is also the lowest point in South
Dakota. Let’s go fishing.

Manders Brothers
by Laney Forrette
Third Place
Think you can’t become famous in Milbank? Well you are wrong because the Manders Brothers became famous and followed their dreams to become what they were in the past. Jack and Pug’s parents died and all the nine children had to go live with their Aunt and Uncle. Their Aunt and Uncle didn’t believe in high school education so they snuck to classes without them knowing. All of the seven Manders kids played on the Milbank Football Team (SDSHOF Jack and Clarence Manders 2018). Jack Manders is the older brother of Pug Manders. Jack was born January 13, 1909 in Milbank, South
Dakota. Jack went to Milbank High School. After he got through high school he attended University of Minnesota. Jack played for the Chicago Bears. He was known for “Automatic Jack,” because he was a good and fast football player. For 6-ft. and 203 for his weight he scored 367 points, and made 40 field goals, kicked 133 extra points, and he scored 19 touchdowns, he also rushedfor 1,586 yards. He and his brother Clarence ‘Pug’ Manders
were two of the seven playing brothers. Jack also played in three other NFL title games. He was also one of the top kickers of his era. He was named three times and all pro team. His football career went from 1933 to 1940. Then he died in Illinois when he was 68 years old on January 29th, 1977 (www.sdshof.com/inductees/jack-manders). Clarence ‘Pug’ Manders was the younger brother of Jack Manders. His name is Clarence but they call
him ‘Pug’. Clarence was born on May 5th, 1913 in Milbank, South Dakota. He went to Milbank High School. When he was done with high school, he attended Drake University. He was a fullback-linebacker and he played 7 seasons in the NFL. In 1941 he was an all pro and in 1946 and 47 he played in the All American Football Conference. But, for the first half of his NFL season he played as a blocker. Dodger Program said, “Manders is the nearest thing to a pile driver in the NFL today. He weighs 205 pounds and is tremendously fast and is with hurricane velocity. He runs with the power of Bronko Nagurski.” In his NFL career, he rushed 690 times for 2,529 yards,passed for 169 yards and a touchdown, caught 25 passes for 326 yards. He intercepted 11 passes and scored 35 touchdowns. Later, he set a Drake record with 24 career touchdowns and in college he was known best for his defense. Once he was playing against Iowa state and he had 17 tackles. He died January 13th, 1985 (www. sdshof.com/inductees/clarence-pug-manders). Clarence Manders had a wife named Marion Manders. Marion and Clarence had two children. A son named David. And a daughter named
Mindy Deitrick. Mark was born October 22, 1938. Mark went to Roosevelt High School and when he graduated high school, he went to Iowa State University. He played football and studied engineering. Just like his dad he was named All Pro American Football. He passed away
August 9th, 2011 at the age 72. His children passed away at a young age also. (https://www.legacy.com/ obituaries/desmoinesregister/obituary.as
px?pid=153779163) Published in Des Moines on Sept. 25, 2011. These paragraphs were about the life of the Manders Brothers. They have had a tough life but after it all they became what they wished to be. They grew up and followed their dream to be All-Pro football stars. After all, people can become famous in Milbank.

 

Staff Writer

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