Austin-Whittemore House

Built in 1884 (Italianate architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

From the record

“The Austin-Whittemore House, sometimes referred to as the Austin-Whittemore Museum, is a historic building in Vermillion, South Dakota. Originally a private residence built in 1884, it is now a historic house museum and the headquarters of the Clay County Historical Society.”
Wikipedia article Austin-Whittemore House, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 44 National Register listings published here for Clay County · listed in 1972 · category: Building · built in 1884, Italianate architecture.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 15 Austin Ave., Vermillion, 57069
When was it listed? October 1972
Category. building
City. Vermillion city
When was it built? 1884
Architectural style. Italianate architecture, Victorian architecture
National Register reference number. 72001225 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

37 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 37 fires within 5 miles of Austin-Whittemore House between 1998 and 2020, burning about 116 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	13
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	7
Smoking	6
Misuse of fire by a minor	5
Equipment and vehicle use	3
Recreation and ceremony	1
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1
Arson/incendiarism	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
30 September 2020	Smoking	3.0 acres	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	CLAY DITCH
29 September 1999	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	Vermillion Volunteer Fire Department	DUKE STREET
25 September 2011	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	319TH STREET
23 September 1999	Smoking	under an acre	Vermillion Volunteer Fire Department	KIDDER
30 August 2014	Debris and open burning	20 acres	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	BURYANEK 2
5 July 2007	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	not named
25 July 2014	Recreation and ceremony	5.0 acres	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	PW01
14 July 2009	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	not named

Every fire recorded in Clay County

Storms near this property

60 of 88 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Vermillion, the town this property stands in, in 88 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 49 hail, 27 thunderstorm wind, 7 flash flood, 3 tornado. The reports record 2 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	2 hurt	no account filed
September 2010	Hail	Vermillion	$250,000	Large hail damaged numerous vehicles with dent and cracked and broken windshields. Twelve skylights at a local Wal-Mart store were broken. Some damage to roofs and siding was also sustained.
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	$50,000	Thunderstorm winds caused widespread tree damage and destroyed a picnic shelter. A few vehicles were damaged by tree debris.
June 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	$50,000	Thunderstorm winds caused extensive tree damage and minor damage to structures near the University of South Dakota campus.
July 1997	Lightning	Vermillion	$20,000	no account filed
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	$15,000	Thunderstorm winds blew part of the roof off a church.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds blew a delivery truck over. the winds also caused tree damage, including large branches blown down.
June 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several large limbs down.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	$2,000	One tree was toppled and several large branches downed by thunderstorm winds. Property damage amounts are rough estimates.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	$1,000	Large limbs were taken down on the east side of Vermillion by thunderstorm winds. Property damage amounts are rough estimates.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	A portion of a storage building was destroyed by thunderstorm wind gusts.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Several large trees limbs were brought down by thunderstorm winds. One large tree was blown over and was leaning on a house.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Thunderstorm winds downed multiple trees and large branches across the southeast portions of Vermillion.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	A tree was downed by thunderstorm winds in Vermillion.
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Several large branches were blown down by thunderstorm winds around town.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Multiple 3 inch branches were broken off trees by thunderstorm winds.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Several shingles were removed from a house by thunderstorm winds.
July 2020	Flash Flood	Vermillion	-	Torrential rainfall resulted in significant street flooding in Vermillion.
July 2020	Flash Flood	Vermillion	-	Water reported flowing over the curb at the intersection of Cherry and Jefferson Streets in Vermillion.
August 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Thunderstorm outflow winds blew over a large tree in Vermillion.
April 2017	Hail	Vermillion	-	Numerous reports of hail ranging in size from quarters to golf balls.
June 2010	Flash Flood	Vermillion	-	Heavy rain caused widespread street flooding. Several basements were also flooded.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including at least one tree uprooted.
May 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including large branches blown down.
September 2010	Hail	Vermillion	-	Large hail dented vehicles and cracked windshields. The amount of damage was not known.
July 2009	Flash Flood	Vermillion	-	Heavy rain caused flash flooding of several streets in Vermillion.
June 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down construction signs, and caused an unknown amount of tree damage.
June 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Thunderstorm winds caused an unknown amount of tree damage.
June 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Thunderstorm wind gusts to 60 mph were accompanied by nickel size hail.
June 2009	Hail	Vermillion	-	Nickel size hail was accompanied by wind gusts up to 60 mph.
May 2008	Hail	Vermillion	-	Large hail was accompanied by heavy rain and 40 mph wind gusts.
July 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including a one foot diameter tree blown down. The winds also damaged a fence. The winds were accompanied by heavy rain and small hail.
April 2005	Flash Flood	Vermillion	-	Runoff from over 3 inches of rain in 4 hours caused flooding of streets, yards, and other low areas.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Thunderstorm winds caused tree and power line damage, resulting in a power outage.
May 2005	Flash Flood	Vermillion	-	Heavy rain caused significant street flooding. Several intersections were closed by water up to two feet deep.\
May 2004	Hail	Vermillion	-	Large hail covered the ground.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage.
June 2003	Tornado (F0)	Vermillion	-	A brief tornado caused no reported damage.
June 2003	Tornado (F0)	Vermillion	-	A brief tornado caused no reported damage.
June 2003	Tornado (F0)	Vermillion	-	A brief tornado caused no reported damage.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Vermillion	-	Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage. The amount of damage was not known.
June 2025	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
June 2025	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
June 2025	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
May 2022	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
May 2022	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
June 2020	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
June 2017	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
June 2017	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
June 2015	Funnel Cloud	Vermillion	-	no account filed
June 2015	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
June 2014	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
April 2012	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
September 2010	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
March 2009	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
June 2009	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
June 2008	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
June 2008	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed
July 2007	Hail	Vermillion	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Clay County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Clay County Courthouse	under 500 feet	1983
E. H. Willey House	0.2 miles	1982
First National Bank Building of Vermillion	0.2 miles	1986
St. Agnes Catholic Church	0.2 miles	1995
Bluff Historic District	0.2 miles	2016
Downtown Vermillion Historic District	0.2 miles	2003

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 72001225 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Clay County	All 44 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.