Manchester, South Dakota
Encyclopedia
Manchester was a small unincorporated community
in Kingsbury County
in the east-central part of the U.S. state
of South Dakota
. On June 24, 2003, the town was completely annihilated by a large F4
-rated tornado
, and has since become a ghost town
.
, which was the primary line carrying grain
east through South Dakota and supplies and settlers west. Manchester was established with the opening of the Manchester post office on June 29, 1881 and named after the town's first postmaster, C. H. Manchester. With the influence of the railroad, Manchester underwent rapid expansion, including the building of "numerous homes, a town hall, grocery stores, livery barns, a lumber yard, two grain elevators, a depot, a restaurant, a cream station, a bank, a pool hall, auto repair, blacksmith shops, gas stations, two churches, a system of township schools including Manchester High School, a hotel, a newspaper and a fabled town pump".
Grace Ingalls Dow
, sister of Little House on the Prairie
author Laura Ingalls Wilder
, spent a significant part of her adult life in Manchester. She worked as a teacher in the local school and died in 1941. Her sister Mary Ingalls
lived with her for a while as well. Laura Ingalls Wilder spent many years (and set several of her Little House books) in De Smet
, a similarly sized town seven miles to Manchester's east along the railroad line.
Into the 1900s, the diminishing importance of the CNW line through Manchester slowed train traffic and cut into the town's expansion, causing many to leave the town. This slide continued into the Great Depression
as the line lay idle and more residents were forced to close their businesses and move elsewhere to find work. Despite road contact finally being made through Manchester in the late 1930s, little remained to induce people to linger and the few remaining residents began to die off or move away, with many relocating to nearby De Smet
or Huron. Having lost many of its residents and its primary means of attracting more, Manchester's population steadily dwindled until a core population of no more than 100 residents remained, with most operating farms and ranches outside the town limits. The CNW railroad officially announced its permanent abandonment of the railroad line in 1986 and stopped maintaining the tracks. By 2003, less than a dozen structures (including two operating businesses) remained standing on the original Manchester town plot along US-14 and 425th Avenue.
The mesocyclone
associated with the tornado was tracked by a large number of meteorologists and storm chasers. A small probe was placed directly in the tornado's damage path. The vortex traveled directly over the instrument, and record-breaking meteorological data was obtained by the probe. It managed to survive winds at the time estimated to be up to 260 mph (418 km/h) and measured a barometric pressure fall of around 100 millibars near the center of the half-mile wide tornado. Current estimates of wind speeds in an EF4-rated tornado would be in the 166-200 mph (267–322 km/h) range.
Manchester was an extremely small and compact town, with the central township abutting the intersection of US Highway 14 and 425th Avenue in rural Kingsbury County and surrounded on all sides by miles of farmland. The tornado struck the town from the north while doing strong F3/weak F4 damage, and was easily powerful enough to destroy the handful of elderly structures remaining in the town center (including the town post office), as well as several outlying buildings along US-14. According to Dan Kight of the Kingsbury County Sherrif's department: "There's a business that's partially left, but everything else is gone," noting only three or four families live in Manchester. Also according to Kight, some residents were transported to the hospital with injuries.
As of 2010, the Manchester town site lies barren and abandoned. All that remains of Manchester is the slab foundations of demolished houses along the dirt road grid that composed the town center and the famous Manchester town pump (which survived a direct hit from the tornado mostly intact). The lush trees which were planted in the 1800s to shelter the town's homes and residents from the summer heat were all razed by the tornado, returning the area to a sea of empty farmland. There are no plans to rebuild, and the destruction of the town's post office and all remaining structures (along with the flight of the few remaining residents) served to finally extinguish Manchester's raison d'être, making it a natural disaster
-induced ghost town
.
Although the town itself is empty and depopulated, many former official residents of Manchester continue to reside in the unincorporated farm areas between De Smet and Iroquois, South Dakota
, and many others have relocated to other small communities nearby. The town has also not been officially "wiped off the map" yet, as it remains on both the government rolls and maps pending the next Federal census.
On June 25, 2007 a granite monument was erected in the ghost town commemorating its history and honoring the residents who had lived there.
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
in Kingsbury County
Kingsbury County, South Dakota
Kingsbury County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,148. It's county seat is De Smet. It was named for two brothers, George W. and T. A. Kingsbury, who were prominently involved in the affairs of Dakota Territory and members of...
in the east-central part of the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
. On June 24, 2003, the town was completely annihilated by a large F4
Fujita scale
The Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...
-rated tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
, and has since become a ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
.
History
Like many South Dakota towns of the era, Manchester was a planned community founded primarily to serve as a stop on the Chicago and North Western RailwayChicago and North Western Railway
The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was a Class I railroad in the Midwest United States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s...
, which was the primary line carrying grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
east through South Dakota and supplies and settlers west. Manchester was established with the opening of the Manchester post office on June 29, 1881 and named after the town's first postmaster, C. H. Manchester. With the influence of the railroad, Manchester underwent rapid expansion, including the building of "numerous homes, a town hall, grocery stores, livery barns, a lumber yard, two grain elevators, a depot, a restaurant, a cream station, a bank, a pool hall, auto repair, blacksmith shops, gas stations, two churches, a system of township schools including Manchester High School, a hotel, a newspaper and a fabled town pump".
Grace Ingalls Dow
Grace Ingalls
Grace Pearl Ingalls Dow was the fifth and last child of Caroline and Charles Ingalls. She was the youngest sister of Laura Ingalls Wilder, known for her Little House on the Prairie books.-Biography:...
, sister of Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie
Little House is a series of children's books by Laura Ingalls Wilder that was published originally between 1932 and 1943, with four additional books published posthumously, in 1962, 1971, 1974 and 2006.-History:...
author Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American author who wrote the Little House series of books based on her childhood in a pioneer family...
, spent a significant part of her adult life in Manchester. She worked as a teacher in the local school and died in 1941. Her sister Mary Ingalls
Mary Ingalls
Mary Amelia Ingalls was born near the town of Pepin, Wisconsin. She was the first child of Caroline and Charles Ingalls...
lived with her for a while as well. Laura Ingalls Wilder spent many years (and set several of her Little House books) in De Smet
De Smet, South Dakota
-External links:* * * * *...
, a similarly sized town seven miles to Manchester's east along the railroad line.
Into the 1900s, the diminishing importance of the CNW line through Manchester slowed train traffic and cut into the town's expansion, causing many to leave the town. This slide continued into the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
as the line lay idle and more residents were forced to close their businesses and move elsewhere to find work. Despite road contact finally being made through Manchester in the late 1930s, little remained to induce people to linger and the few remaining residents began to die off or move away, with many relocating to nearby De Smet
De Smet
De Smet is the name of the following communities in the USA:*De Smet, South Dakota - town in Kingsbury County, South Dakota...
or Huron. Having lost many of its residents and its primary means of attracting more, Manchester's population steadily dwindled until a core population of no more than 100 residents remained, with most operating farms and ranches outside the town limits. The CNW railroad officially announced its permanent abandonment of the railroad line in 1986 and stopped maintaining the tracks. By 2003, less than a dozen structures (including two operating businesses) remained standing on the original Manchester town plot along US-14 and 425th Avenue.
The Manchester Tornado
On June 24, 2003 a classic supercell thunderstorm spawned a tornado over eastern South Dakota. The tornado gradually matured and widened, forming a large "wedge" shape, and achieving an intensity of F4 on the Fujita scale and a width of between one-half and one mile as it entered Manchester.The mesocyclone
Mesocyclone
A mesocyclone is a vortex of air, approximately 2 to 10 miles in diameter , within a convective storm....
associated with the tornado was tracked by a large number of meteorologists and storm chasers. A small probe was placed directly in the tornado's damage path. The vortex traveled directly over the instrument, and record-breaking meteorological data was obtained by the probe. It managed to survive winds at the time estimated to be up to 260 mph (418 km/h) and measured a barometric pressure fall of around 100 millibars near the center of the half-mile wide tornado. Current estimates of wind speeds in an EF4-rated tornado would be in the 166-200 mph (267–322 km/h) range.
Manchester was an extremely small and compact town, with the central township abutting the intersection of US Highway 14 and 425th Avenue in rural Kingsbury County and surrounded on all sides by miles of farmland. The tornado struck the town from the north while doing strong F3/weak F4 damage, and was easily powerful enough to destroy the handful of elderly structures remaining in the town center (including the town post office), as well as several outlying buildings along US-14. According to Dan Kight of the Kingsbury County Sherrif's department: "There's a business that's partially left, but everything else is gone," noting only three or four families live in Manchester. Also according to Kight, some residents were transported to the hospital with injuries.
Final status
As of 2010, the Manchester town site lies barren and abandoned. All that remains of Manchester is the slab foundations of demolished houses along the dirt road grid that composed the town center and the famous Manchester town pump (which survived a direct hit from the tornado mostly intact). The lush trees which were planted in the 1800s to shelter the town's homes and residents from the summer heat were all razed by the tornado, returning the area to a sea of empty farmland. There are no plans to rebuild, and the destruction of the town's post office and all remaining structures (along with the flight of the few remaining residents) served to finally extinguish Manchester's raison d'être, making it a natural disaster
Natural disaster
A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard . It leads to financial, environmental or human losses...
-induced ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
.
Although the town itself is empty and depopulated, many former official residents of Manchester continue to reside in the unincorporated farm areas between De Smet and Iroquois, South Dakota
Iroquois, South Dakota
Iroquois is a city in Beadle and Kingsbury Counties in the U.S. state of South Dakota. The population was 266 at the 2010 census. The school building is located in Kingsbury County, while the school parking lot is located in Beadle County...
, and many others have relocated to other small communities nearby. The town has also not been officially "wiped off the map" yet, as it remains on both the government rolls and maps pending the next Federal census.
On June 25, 2007 a granite monument was erected in the ghost town commemorating its history and honoring the residents who had lived there.