William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic Party's nominee for president in 1900, made a campaign stop in Yankton in September of that year. The famous orator may have won the hearts of Yanktonians, but he lost to William McKinley in the election two months later.

"We have just entered upon a year that is named '1900' and will be called '1900' until the 31st of next December has expired when the year will be completed, and [with] the New Year, 1901, the new century begins."

The paper was right, of course, and in Yankton the passing of the 1800s was not a cause for any special celebration. Instead it was business-as-usual in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War in which the local Company C of the South Dakota Guards had fought against the insurrectionist troops of Emilio Aguinaldo after the U. S. Senate had ratified the peace treaty with Spain.

As a result of the war, John Holman -- a young attorney who had been promoted from the ranks to second lieutenant for bravery in action -- was elected mayor for a one-year term in 1900. (He later served in the state legislature.)

At the time the town was struggling for a lasting identity. It had been the territorial capital until it lost the political plum to Bismarck in 1883. Its role as a riverport of some note had come to an end when its fleet of paddlewheelers was severely damaged in the infamous Flood of '81.

After that it became known as the Fountain City when artesian geyers promised great industrial development -- until the water table dropped to non-productive levels. Then, by 1900, Yankton had acquired the nickname of the Cement City because of the plant on the limestone bluffs west of town.

Promoters called it "The Only Town in South Dakota with a Dinner Bucket Brigadett" -- supposedly a complimentary description -- as double shifts of workers rode the railroad train to and from the mill. Little did Yanktonians know that the cement works, too, would peter out in another decade, and the Cement City title would go with it.

However, in 1900 a wave of optimism persisted.

That's when James Albert Danforth -- described by some papers as "the Chicago millionaire" -- -acquired considerable Yankton property and forced local businessmen out of complacent ways. It took an outsider to shake them up a bit when they were enjoying "comfortable success."

There was much railroad talk at the time, and it was thought that Danforth knew more about a proposed Illinois Central extension from LeMars and a possible Yankton-Omaha line than he was letting on. Neither project materialized, of course, but there was apparently a minor real estate boom as a result of the Chicagoan's enthusiastic purchases.

In 1900 Yankton was actually served by three railroad lines: the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Chicago & North Western and the Great Northern. Almost a dozen passenger trains -- not counting specials -- came and went each day, excepting Sundays. They kept the E. G. Edgerton Hack Line and Coacher and Smith's Palace Livery busy on trips back and forth between the depots and Yankton's various hotels. There were almost as many freight trains, too.

In an age of traveling salesmen -- known as "drummers" -- it was a heyday for hotels. Among others, Yankton in 1900 boasted the Merchants on the southeast corner of Third and Broadway, the Germania House on Douglas and the Pierce (originally the St. Charles, later renamed the Jencks and then the Morrison) at Third and Capitol. Joseph Mollett advertised the Farmers Phoenix Hotel at the corner of Third and Pine "opposite Donaldson's lumber yard," with a room charge of $1 a day and stabling for 10¢, with hay.

At the same time John Wilson announced the reopening of the newly furnished Great Western Hotel, "second door north of the courthouse on Douglas avenue." The courthouse was then in the building which became the I.O.O.F. Hall at Fifth and Douglas, as Yankton County's "magnificent temple of justice" would not be built at Third and Broadway until 1905.

Other business firms were thriving in Yankton at the turn of the century. Among them were the Fred Burgi and Loonan & Smith lumber yards; the F. A. Brecht Drug Co.; Carney the Grocer; Fred Scheel, the merchant tailor who sold suits for as little as $5; the Louis Moritz Brewing Co., which was advertising for barley; the Troy Laundry in the Madison House; the Isaac Piles clothing store 'tat the Sign of the Buffalo Head:' and the Walter Dean fuel firm which sold "coal like father used to burn and wood like mother used to split."

The William S. Stockwell Company was making Stockwell Leaf and Mary Paul cigars; P. J. Nyberg sold buggies; George Wagner sold bicycles, fishing tackle and musical instruments; E. O. Walgren~s Star Restaurant offered fresh oysters and frog legs; the historic Excelsior Mill was still in business under the management of Frank L. Van Tassel; and Fred Schnauber of the Yankton Steam Bottling Works was putting up 100 loads of ice each day, with 30 men and 12 teams on the job.

A. W. Hitchman advertised in the Yankton DailY Gazette that he would "fill up your cisterns with fine Missouri water," while W. W. Chase had a cistern-cleaning business at 112 West Fourth. Hitchman's competitor, Dave Wallace, offered to deliver channel water "by the tank or barrel on short notice."

Col. Charles W. Gurney's nursery business was in its infancy as Deloss B. Gurney, his son, was a partner in the Gurney & Klopping confectionery and ice cream store while he also sold trees. In 1900 the George W. Whiting Esmond Evergreen Nursery was better known.

Fred Klopping in the Union Block on the northwest corner of Walnut and Third and the Fantle brother located a hlock farther west were the leading department store merchants in town -- and both of their buildings were destroyed by fire in 1901. Needless to say, there were numerous other businesses in the city at the time, but space limitations curtail their mention.

Yankton College -- then in its 19th year -- graduated six boys and two girls in its largest class to date. The school, under Pres. Henry K. Warren, was considered "highly prosperous" with an endowment of $110,000, having paid off the last of its indebtedness that year. Sacred Heart Hospital, founded in 1897, continued to operate under less than idea/conditions in the old academy building and Indian school on Mount Marty.

At the South Dakota Hospital for the Insane -- as it was then known -- Dr. Leonard C. Mead regained the superintendency after being temporarily replaced by the controversial Dr. Vladimir Sebiakin-Ross in a so-called political housecleaning.

The German language newspaper -- the Dakota Freie Presse -- had a wide circulation outside its base in Yankton, while the German Turn-Verein was still very active. The town's two dailies -- the Press and Dakotan (with Democratic leanings under George Kingsbury and Wheeler S. Bowen) and the Daily Gazette (strongly Republican under co-publishers David S. Lloyd and Willard C. Lusk) -- sparred editorially over Sen. Robert J. Gamble (Gazette) and Sen. Richard F. Pettigrew (P and D).

Yankton hosted its fifth State Fair on the grounds north of today's school district administrative offices on Ferdig Avenue. Fred Schnauber was president of the association's directors, with merchant Henry C. Brisbine, vice president, and Fred O. Donaldson, treasurer. A committee raised funds to overcome the 1899 debt; and, although the 1900 fair was judged a success, it was necessary for Yankton interests to cover another loss of $1,000.

One of the highlights of the year was prefaced by the Press and Dakotan in its issue of Sept. 27 when it announced:

"Yankton will be host tomorrow to the foremost man in the nation, William Jennings Bryan, the democratic candidate for president of the United States, the man of exalted motives, honest conviction, a well defined policy and absolutely free from political taint. Mr. Bryan is to be the guest of all the people, and his friends here invite his enemies to join with them in making him feel that he is welcome."

Bryan spoke from a wooden platform erected at the intersection of Third and Walnut next to the Union Block. The pro-Bryan P and D later announced that 1,000 more people were on hand to hear the famed orator than were present at the same location for Teddy Roosevelt, a vice-presidential candidate, 17 days earlier.

In 1900 crossing the Missouri was a major problem for the Cement City. Yanktonians and Nebraskans had to depend on the ferry Josie L. K., a pontoon bridge or river ice during the winter. It was a frustration which was to last for another 24 years.

All in all, though, the end of the 19th century saw Yankton as a city with great potential, with an adequate share of physicians, dentists, lawyers, church leaders and other professionals. They and the general citizenry looked forward to a new century, as the Yankton DailY Gazette gave them hope when it said:

"The pessimist is scarce in 1900, even in Yankton."

© 1999 Robert F. Karolevitz