Location Yankton, South Dakota NRHP Reference # 82003949 Phone +1 605-665-3661 Architectural style Romanesque architecture | Built 1894 Opened 1894 Founder Joseph Ward Added to NRHP 22 March 1982 | |
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Address 1801 Summit St, Yankton, SD 57078, USA Notable alumni Lyle Alzado, Les Goodman, Dean Wink, Alvin Hansen, Gabor Boritt Similar Dakota Wesleyan University, Huron University, Mount Marty College, University of Sioux Falls, Northern State University Profiles | ||
Yankton college
Yankton College was a small liberal arts college in Yankton, South Dakota, affiliated with the Congregational Christian Churches (later the United Church of Christ).
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Founded in 1881, it was the first institution of higher learning in the Dakota Territory. The man primarily responsible for the college's establishment was Joseph Ward, a local pastor and educator who is one of the two South Dakotans represented in Statuary Hall.
The campus was declared the Yankton College Historic District in 1982 due to the presence of a group of buildings designed by architect George Grant Elmslie. Between 1927 and 1932, Elmslie designed seven structures for the college, of which several were built:
It is probably best known today as the college which NFL football player Lyle Alzado attended. The college's athletic teams were known as the Greyhounds. The football stadium (Crane Youngworth Field) is now used as the home field for the Yankton High School football teams.
Yankton College closed in December 1984, and its campus became the site of Federal Prison Camp, Yankton, which opened four years later.
The University of South Dakota - Springfield, a public university in the same state also originally established in 1881, also closed in 1984, and its campus became the site of a state prison.