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Then&Now
SECTION B
Yankton Press & Dakotan September 25, 2017
Downtown Yankton Business Agriculture & Manufacturing
A shot of nighttime shopping on Third St. in downtown Yankton, probably taken in the mid to late 1960s. (Photo: Dakota Territorial Museum)
When Downtown
Yankton Was King
Downtown Yankton s Days
On Top Are Behind It
And Potentially Ahead Of It
BY ROB NIELSEN
L
rob.nielsen@yankton.net
PHOTO: DAKOTA TERRITORIAL MUSEUM
ABOVE: A shot of Third St. in downtown Yankton taken sometime during the 1930s. Business was still strong
despite the Great Depression. BELOW: Today, Third St. in downtown Yankton still features its share of traffic
(and a lot more trees) as the district aims to recapture some of the retail activity that has moved elsewhere.
ike many small towns across the Midwest,
Yankton s downtown was once the main
focus of its residents.
Most people shopped there, lived there,
worked there and celebrated the town s
biggest events there.
But as with many of those same towns,
Yankton grew into
a small city, and
it found growth
spreading away from the onceconcentrated commerce to
other areas of town. There has
also been an evolution in retail
that saw dominance in suburban malls, big-box stores and
finally the Internet that have
all eaten away at downtown
businesses.
But some in the community
are currently working to bring
back the vibrant days of when
downtown Yankton was king.
WHEN DOWNTOWN WAS KING
In December 2015, the Press & Dakotan talked with
a number of current and former residents about their
memories of downtown.
Bernie Hunhoff, former District 18 state senator
and co-founder of South Dakota Magazine, which is
based on the eastern edge of downtown Yankton,
recalls a much more crowded downtown.
It was packed with people and cool old cars, he
told the Press & Dakotan. Mostly, I remember it was
a busy place and a gathering place. There were four
men s clothing stores, a couple of grocery stores,
several dime stores and it was packed. Every store
was busy and one fed off another. It was just the place
to be.
Then-Yankton mayor David Carda said there was a
greater significance to events downtown.
I remember as a kid we d go down there, he
said. Crazy Days was a big deal back then. Streets
KELLY HERTZ/P&D
DOWNTOWN | PAGE 11B
