“Tom Berry 1879-1951”

The 14th Governor of South Dakota serving two terms, 1933 – 1937

Berry was the first of three Governors elected from West of the Missouri River since statehood in 1889.

Tom Berry with his wife, Lorena McLain, 1879-1963, are buried in the family plot in the Belvidere Cemetery ½ mile north of this marker.

Berry assumed his duties as Governor when the state was in the grip of drought, grasshoppers and the national depression in the 1930s. He called for a simpler and less expensive state government, and by 1935 new sources of revenue had been enacted to ease the strain of the Great Depression.

Tom, born in northern Nebraska, and Lorena, born in Missouri, were married in 1905 and moved to South Dakota. By 1913 they had settled on a homestead ranch along Black Pipe Creek, 15 miles south of Belvidere near the former Washabaugh County line. Their immediate family were Baxter and Lyndall Berry, Nell and Burrell Phipps, Faye and Ralph Jones, and Paul and Elaine Berry.

Berry was one of the state’s most colorful cattlemen and was known for his western humor. He was one of the founders of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association and of the Cowboys of 1902. He continually pushed for conservation of grass in the West River and improvement of cattle breeds in the area.

Tom Berry had implicit faith in the West River as a cattle country, and was a strong advocate of law enforcement.

Jackson County, SD 63 near Belvidere exit of I-90 (1992)