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Photograph of Verendrye Site
Photograph by Vergil Noble, administrator for archaeological National Historic Landmarks in the Midwest Region, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

La Verendrye Site

A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

From the record

“The Verendrye Site is an historical archaeological site off Verendrye Drive in Fort Pierre, Stanley County, South Dakota, United States. Now a small public park, it is the place where the La VĂ©rendrye brothers, the first known Europeans to explore this area, placed a lead plate bearing the coat of arms of France, to claim the territory for their homeland, during their 1742-1743 expedition to the Rocky Mountains.”

Wikipedia article Verendrye Site, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 8 National Register listings published here for Stanley County · listed in 1974 · category: Site · a National Historic Landmark.

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

The listing

  • National Historic Landmark. The highest federal designation, held by about 2,600 places in the country against roughly 100,000 Register listings.
  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 site as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Off U.S. 83, Fort Pierre, 57532
  • When was it listed? August 1974
  • Category. site
  • City. Fort Pierre city
  • National Register reference number. 74001899 - 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

73 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 73 fires within 5 miles of La Verendrye Site between 1996 and 2020, burning about 2,052 acres in total. 3 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined43
Fireworks10
Equipment and vehicle use9
Debris and open burning5
Natural3
Other causes1
Smoking1
Arson/incendiarism1

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

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
30 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionORV CA
30 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionORV
30 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined30 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression4-WHEELER GRASS FIRE
3 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionRIFLE RANGE
25 September 2016Equipment and vehicle use200 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionBUICK FIRE
22 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionWYLE CA
22 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionWYLY
19 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined40 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionGRASS FIRE

Every fire recorded in Stanley County

Mines and quarries near this property

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of La Verendrye Site: 3 past producers, 2 producers, 1 unknown. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Buffalo PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Buffalo Pit #2Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Corps of Engineers PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Phillips Terrace PitsSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Polo Grounds PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Stanley County PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Stanley 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.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Jefferson Davis Carr House0.1 miles1982
Old Fort Pierre School0.1 miles1977
United Church of Christ, Congregational0.2 miles1977
American Legion Community Hall0.3 miles2017
Stockgrowers Bank Building0.4 miles1977
Gaylord Sumner House0.6 miles1977

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 74001899 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Stanley CountyAll 8 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.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.