Locations

Some time ago, I found on the internet a couple of articles about Dimock, South Dakota and printed them out. I can no longer find any reference to the articles, so I have reproduced them below:

"an Interesting Little community"

People have been enjoying life in Dimock for well over a century. They have watched their children have grow up and experience the wonders courtship and marriage. As time passed, families grew into even bigger families. There has been a lot of history that has taken place in this little town.

A little town that may not be remembered as "Dimock" by all. According to information taken from a book titled: "Memories of a Pioneer Daughter", written by Pauline Neugebauer Misterek, (1981), Dimock used to be called "Rome". The community of rome began when:

"A group of German settlers came from Dane County, Wisconsin to live here in 1878... A little frame of a church was built in 1882. This is how the Catholic Church started. A Catholic Parochial school was started in 1885. Mathias Schmidt donated to the land for the school and the rectory... The railroad was built through Rome in 1885. During the same year the town's name was changed to Starr...One of the first buildings in Starr was the Farmer's Elevator. The elevator had a mill to grind wheat into flour...In 1911 the railroad company changed the town's name from Starr to Dimock. It was named after Warren Dimock, who was born in Avaca, Iowa County in Wisconsin in 1859. Mr. Dimock studied law in Wisconsin and then came to Dakota in 1885. He was State's Attorney of Hutchinson County from 1891 to 1906. Mr. Dimock then became State Senator and County Judge of Hutchinson County...In fall of 1910 lots were sold; that was the beginning of the town of Dimock."

A lot of time went by before our little town became known as Dimock. Misterek (1981), also mentioned the first grocery store in town was started by a Frenchman, Edward Bane in 1910. The building came from Ethan. As more and more pioneers began moving into the community, a post office and a Waterloo Boy implement business (which is now John Deere), were then built in 1912, a jail in 1914, and many other businesses in the 1920's. some of them included: Dimock State Bank, a hardware store, bar, gas station, hotel, car sales lot, bowling alley, blacksmith ship, hat shop, garage, cafe, and theatre. A dance hall also became a part of our business community, when the owner of the hardware store retired and closed his business.

According to St. Peter & Paul church centennial book, 1885-1985, the history of Dimock Catholic school was indeed short.

In 1913, Father John Wolf began construction of the parochial school. Upon completion, the new school became a boarding school for many years. The old school was moved into town to be used as a public school. When the new school was built, the old parsonage had to be moved across the street where it was left on moving trucks for a long time until it was finally sold on auction.

As time passed, the sisters began having trouble finding vocations. They began to close their schools and it was usually the small town schools that were the earliest casualties. The Parochial school in Dimock closed in 1968. However, the school did continue to operate in conjunction with the Parkston school district until 1990. In the following year, the school was then demolished. The site is presently Dimock City park.