The Western Union Building, formerly known as the Hagerty Block and currently as the Dacotah Prairie Museum, is a historic bank building in

Aberdeen, South Dakota Aberdeen (Lakota language, Lakota: ''Ablíla'') is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, Brown County, South Dakota, United States, located approximately northeast of Pierre, South Dakota, Pierre. The city population was 2 ...

. It is individually listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

and is a contributing property to the Aberdeen Commercial Historic District.

History

The Northwestern National Bank formed in Aberdeen in 1888 with Henry Marple as president. In August 1888, the bank purchased the property and general store at 21–23 South Main Street to build a new bank building. Construction took place from 1888 through 1889 with the bank opening in the new location in February 1889. In May 1891, a fire damaged the building and gutted the Kearney and Boyer grocery store. In March 1903, another fire damaged the building, originating in the basement banana room of the Gamble & Robinson grocery store. The building was purchased by Jay Hagerty in 1907, becoming known as the Hagerty Block. In 1920, existing tenant

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...

took over the most prominent space in the building, which then became known as the Western Union Building. Over the years, aside from the bank, the building housed grocery stores and several offices. In 1970, the building was donated to Brown County for a museum, which opened as the Dacotah Prairie Museum that October. By 1980 the museum was the sole occupant of the building. The building was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places as the only remaining 19th century bank building in Aberdeen; it was listed on December 12, 1976. The building is also listed on the National Register as a key

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

of the Aberdeen Commercial Historic District; the district was listed on May 23, 1988.

Architecture

The Western Union Building is an example of

Romanesque Revival architecture Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

. The structure is a three-story building made of red brick laid in

running bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by si ...

. There are three main entrances, each framed by a large arch and set a few steps above street level.

Pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s extend the full height of the building, separating windows on the first floor and window pairs on the second and third floors. The interior has undergone renovations, but the exterior has changed little over the building's history.

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links