“C.B. Kennedy”

Founder of Madison and Dakota State College

Charles B. Kennedy arrived at this location in March 1878. He said, upon his arrival, ‘There is not a tree in sight, nor sign of human habitation, only paths made by Indians and Buffalo leading to a flowing spring near by.' This spring led to his decision to settle here. Today it is symbolized by the lighted fountain on this site.

Kennedy took up a tree claim and homesteaded on the adjoining 320 acres of land which today comprises a portion of the city of Madison. He built a temporary sod house and envisioned a town site here because of its central location and the likelihood that a railroad would come to his holding. As anticipated, the first train arrived on January 12, 1881.

In 1880 Kennedy was named Territorial Representative to the legislature which convened in Yankton. His crowning achievement was the passage of legislation which found the city of Madison on its present site. This presaged a struggle between the towns of old Madison and Herman which was resolved only after a bitter rivalry. The new town was established in July 1880 and the county seat moved here in late December following the mysterious removal of the county safe from old Madison and its appearance on the main street of the new town.

Major legislation achieved by Kennedy provided that Dakota Normal School would be located in Madison under legislative act of February 28, 1881. He deeded 20 acres of land, on which the college is located, with the provision that it would be held in perpetuity so long as the institution retained its objective as a teacher education school.

Charles B. Kennedy was born in a log house in Moscow, Maine, March 28, 1840. He married Mae Ella Williams May 20, 1873 and they had two sons, C. Leroy and Dean M. Kennedy.

Kennedy became a teacher, publisher, banker and real estate developer.

After a grade school education in a log school house he attended Pittsfield Institute and later Maine State College. He served a term as District Superintendent of Schools before leaving to go west to LeRoy, Minnesota, where he established a newspaper known as the ‘LeRoy Independent’. After four years he went further west to settle at what is now Madison. Kennedy was organizer of several banks and loan and real estate companies in Madison. His career included election to the House of Representatives of the Territorial Legislature meeting in Yankton in 1880-81 and to a session meeting in Bismarck in 1886-87.

The Kennedy family lived in Madison, during its early years of development, in a home that was located one block south of this site.

Lake County, SD 34 - Memorial Park – Madison (1988)