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In this unusual blend of chronological and personal history, Dorothy Hubbard Schwieder combines scholarly sources with family memories to create a loving and informed history of Presho, South Dakota, and her family's life there from the time of settlement in 1905 to the mid 1950s. Schwieder tells the story of this small town in the West River country, with its harsh and unpredictable physical environment, through the activities of her father, Walter Hubbard, and his family of ten children. Walter Hubbard’s experiences as a business owner and town builder and his attitudes toward work, education, and family both refiected and shaped the lives of Presho's inhabitants and the town itself. While most histories of the Plains focus on farm life, Schwieder writes entirely about small-town society. She uses newspaper accounts, state and county histories, census data, interviews with residents, and the childhood memories of herself and her nine siblings to create an entwined, first-hand social and economic portrait of life on main street from the perspective of its citizens.
E-Book Content
uGROWING UP WITH THE TOWN
uGROWING UP
WITH THE TOWN
Family & Community on the Great Plains DOROTHY HUBBARD SCHWIEDE| University of Iowa Press
Iowa City
University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242 Copyright © 2002 by the University of Iowa Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Design by Richard Hendel http://www.uiowa.edu/~uipress No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. All reasonable steps have been taken to contact copyright holders of material used in this book. The publisher would be pleased to make suitable arrangements with any whom it has not been possible to reach. The publication of this book was generously supported by the University of Iowa Foundation. Printed on acid-free paper 02 03 04 05 06 c 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Schwieder, Dorothy, 1933– Growing up with the town: family and community on the Great Plains / by Dorothy Hubbard Schwieder. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-87745-804-9 1. Presho (S.D.)—History—20th century. 2. Presho (S.D.)—Social life and customs—20th century. 3. Presho (S.D.)—Biography. 4. Schwieder, Dorothy, 1933– —Childhood and youth. 5. Hubbard family. 6. Great Plains—History—20th century. 7. Great Plains—Social life and customs—2oth century. I. Title. f659.p74 s39 2002 978.3⬘58—dc21 2001054840 Portions of this book were first published as the following articles: “A Tale of Two Grandmothers: Immigration and Family on the Great Plains,” South Dakota History 31 (Spring 2001): 26 –52, and “Town-Building and Persistence on the Great Plains: The Case of Presho, South Dakota,” South Dakota History 30 (Summer 2000): 200 –22. Except where noted in the captions, all photographs are from the author’s collection.
For my siblings— Donald, Ralph, Herold, and George Hubbard; Gladys Hawley; Louise Miller; and the late Ruth Iverson and John Hubbard. Thank you for wonderful, warm memories; without all of you, this book could not have been written.
u CONTENTS Preface and Acknowledgments, ix Descendants Chart, xvii Prologue, 1
par t i. The Early Years 1. The First Generation, 7 2. A Town Called Presho, 33 3. Times of Trial, 53
par t ii. A Personal Perspective 4. In My Father’s House, 81 5. The Wonderful World of Work, 103 6. A Community on the Plains, 119 7. The Business on Main Street, 145 8. Coming of Age and Leaving Home, 160 Epilogue, 173 Notes, 177 Index, 191
u PREFACE & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T
his book has been a long time in the making. The seed was planted some five decades ago when I first began to realize that the area where I grew up, the northern Grea