BlockFrom the record
One of 10 National Register listings published here for Clark County · listed in 1990 · category: Building · built in 1886.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Southeast Merton School No. 19
Built in 1886. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 2 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
- Address. N of Willow Lake, Willow Lake, 57271
- When was it listed? January 1990
- Category. building
- Township. Merton township
- When was it built? 1886
- National Register reference number. 89002338 - 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
5 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Southeast Merton School No. 19 between 2003 and 2016, burning about 30 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 August 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 1 August 2006 | Natural | 1.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 29 June 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | KOLDEN |
| 12 April 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 14 November 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Waubay National Wildlife Refuge | LACRAFT WPA WILDFIRE |
Storms near this property
58 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Willow Lake, the town this property stands in, in 58 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 32 hail, 17 thunderstorm wind, 5 tornado, 3 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1994 | Hail | Willow Lake | $50,000 | Hail fell in a narrow path estimated to be 15 miles long across southern Clark County and including the Willow Lake area. Corn, wheat, and soybean crops were severely damaged. The hail broke windows on several homes, damaged siding and shingles, and damaged vehicles. |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | $5,000 | Thunderstorm Winds blew a large tree down onto a vehicle and small shed. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | Photos of thunderstorm wind damage posted to social media include multiple trees damaged or toppled. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | Trained spotter reports an uprooted pine tree and four inch diameter branches broken off of multiple trees. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | On Dry Lake, winds caused a boat to capsize, and three boaters required rescue. |
| June 2024 | Flash Flood | Willow Lake | - | Emergency management reported water over 422nd ave and 424th ave around highway 28. |
| August 2023 | Tornado (EF0) | Willow Lake | - | Law enforcement and a storm chaser reported the brief touchdown of a tornado in an open field. The tornado path was later visible on hi-resolution satellite imagery. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | Emergency management reported that thunderstorm winds had blown in the doors on a barn. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | Both a storage garage and a shed were destroyed by estimated 75 mph wind gusts. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | A tree was toppled onto a house by estimated 70 mph winds. |
| July 2018 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | Quarter size hail and strong winds damaged many acres of corn and beans. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | Sixty mph winds were estimated. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | Sixty-five mph winds downed a large evergreen tree. |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | Seventy mph winds rolled a couple grain bins. |
| June 2012 | Tornado (EF0) | Willow Lake | - | A tornado touched down briefly north of Willow Lake with no damage reported. |
| June 2012 | Tornado (EF0) | Willow Lake | - | A tornado touched down briefly south of Willow Lake with no damage occuring. |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Willow Lake | - | Very heavy rains of 3 to nearly 7 inches fell across much of Clark county causing flash flooding. Many roads were flooded and damaged with a bridge washed out south of Carpenter. Many homes received water in their basements which resulted in damage for some. Also, thousands of acres of cropland were flooded with many seeds and large quantities of fertilizer washed away.||Rainfall amounts included 4 to 5 inches in the Vienna/Willow Lake area, 5.7 inches in Garden City, 6.72 inches in Clark, and 7.35 inches in Carpenter. |
| May 2007 | Flood | Willow Lake | - | Widespread flooding from very heavy rains continued across much of Clark county into May 7th. Many roads were flooded and damaged with a bridge washed out south of Carpenter. Many homes received water in their basements which resulted in damage for some. Also, thousands of acres of cropland were flooded with many seeds and large quantities of fertilizer washed away.| |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Willow Lake | - | Very heavy rains of 3 to nearly 7 inches fell across much of Clark county causing flash flooding. Many roads were flooded and damaged with a bridge washed out south of Carpenter. Many homes received water in their basements which resulted in damage for some. Also, thousands of acres of cropland were flooded with many seeds and large quantities of fertilizer washed away.||Rainfall amounts included 4 to 5 inches in the Vienna/Willow Lake area, 5.7 inches in Garden City, 6.72 inches in Clark, and 7.35 inches in Carpenter. |
| June 2003 | Tornado (F1) | Willow Lake | - | A tornado moved into southern Clark County from Kingsbury county. The tornado snapped off many trees and blew them considerable distances before it dissipated. |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | High winds blew a pole barn several feet across a gravel road. |
| March 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | At the Prairie Retreat located 5 miles south of Willow Lake, winds gusting to over 80 mph uprooted many trees, destroyed a large yard glider, broke out some windows, blew off a barn door, with damage sustained to several other buildings. |
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| July 2024 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| July 2014 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| September 2008 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| April 2007 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| August 1998 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Tornado (F0) | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Hail | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Willow Lake | - | no account filed |
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
1 within 8 milesOther 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 | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good Hope Lutheran Church | 0.4 miles | 2002 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 89002338 in Record Group 79. |
| Clark County | All 10 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.