Frawley Historic Ranch | |
Nearest city | Spearfish, South Dakota |
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Coordinates | 44°28′30″N103°42′38″W / 44.47500°N 103.71056°W |
Area | 4,750 acres (19.2 km2) |
Built | 1880 |
Architectural style | Classical Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 74001893 [1] [2] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | December 31, 1974 [3] |
Designated NHLD | May 5, 1977 [1] |
The Frawley Ranch is an historic ranch in Lawrence County, South Dakota, near Spearfish, South Dakota. Henry Frawley developed what became the largest and most successful cattle ranch in western South Dakota by purchasing lands that had failed as smaller homesteading parcels. The property was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977. [1] [4]
Patrick Henry Frawley was born March 13, 1851, in Washington County, New York to Thomas and Honora (Hogan) Frawley who had immigrated from County Limerick, Ireland. Frawley was graduated from the University of Wisconsin law school in 1876. In 1877 the Indian lands of the Black Hills District was opened to settlers and Frawley traveled by train to Bismarck, North Dakota and then by wagon train to Deadwood, Dakota Territory, where he set up a law practice. He was successful from the start and in 1879 joined with a partner, Edward L. Kohen, as Frawley and Kohen law firm. In 1894 John P. Laffey and a James Frawley joined to form Frawley and Laffey. In 1896 James moved to Nome, Alaska and in 1903 E.L. Frawley joined to form Frawley and Frawley. The firm represented John Fitzgerald (Fitzgerald-Mallory Construction Company), also from County Limerick, in railroad construction from Deadwood to Edgemont, the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, the American National Bank of Deadwood [5] and various mining companies. During this time Frawley bought land and mining interests in the area. [6]
On July 22, 1890, Henry married Cristina Anderson, sole heir to Centennial Farm that lay between Deadwood and Spearfish. They had three children Henry James, William C., and Honora. Frawley began to buy unsuccessful farms in the valley totaling more than 3000 acres, and by 1913 had over 4,783 acres from different farms referred to as the Upper, Lower, Middle, and East farms, [7] that included the Anderson dairy with a brick barn, and a school. [8] They bred Belgian and Percheron draft horses, as well as Hereford cattle. [9]
After what seemed to be a bad business deal Henry Frawley had a breakdown in 1920 and went to Nebraska for treatment where he died in 1927. From 1920 Cristina ran the ranch as the matriarch until she died in 1942. Henry James Frawley, Sr. and the families of William and Honora Frawley jointly ran the ranch until Henry bought out the others in 1960. In 1962 Henry James Frawley, Jr. had completed college and joined his parents in running the ranch. In 1968 the state of South Dakota used eminent domain to gain a right-of-way for Interstate 90 through the northern pastures of the ranch. Tunnels were built so that livestock could cross under the interstate. [10]
Denver, Colorado developer Daryll Propp and his partner, Mike Kreke, who was head of the retail giant Douglas Holding (purchased by CVC), bought the property in 1998 as Elkhorn Ridge partners and started commercial development along the area of I-90 at exit 17. With a 30 million dollar investment the property contains an RV park, home sites, and a golf course. 2,800 acres was set aside as a conservation easement in perpetuity, through the South Dakota Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), a division of the United States Department of Agriculture. [11] Water and sewer was extended from Spearfish and the city limits expanded east of the golf course. Elkhorn Ridge announced a back-nine extension project was to start 2014 with an unknown completion date. [12]
In the United States, a conservation easement is a power invested in a qualified land conservation organization called a "land trust", or a governmental entity to constrain, as to a specified land area, the exercise of rights otherwise held by a landowner so as to achieve certain conservation purposes. It is an interest in real property established by agreement between a landowner and land trust or unit of government. The conservation easement "runs with the land", meaning it is applicable to both present and future owners of the land. The grant of conservation easement, as with any real property interest, is part of the chain of title for the property and is normally recorded in local land records.
Lawrence County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,768. Its county seat is Deadwood.
Deadwood is a city that serves as county seat of Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. It was named by early settlers after the dead trees found in its gulch. The city had its heyday from 1876 to 1879, after gold deposits had been discovered there, leading to the Black Hills Gold Rush. At its height, the city had a population of 25,000, attracting Old West figures such as Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane, and Wild Bill Hickok.
Elkhorn or Elk Horn may refer to:
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Solomon Star was a Jewish American businessman and politician notable as an early resident of the town of Deadwood, South Dakota.
Seth Bullock was a Canadian-American frontiersman, business proprietor, politician, sheriff, and U.S. Marshal. He was a prominent citizen in Deadwood, South Dakota, where he lived from 1876 until his death, operating a hardware store and later a large hotel, the Bullock Hotel.
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America's 11 Most Endangered Places or America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places is a list of places in the United States that the National Trust for Historic Preservation considers the most endangered. It aims to inspire Americans to preserve examples of architectural and cultural heritage that could be "relegated to the dustbins of history" without intervention.
Minnesela is a ghost town and was the first settlement in and county seat of Butte County, South Dakota, United States. Minnesela was founded in 1882 and was located three miles southeast of present-day Belle Fourche. The railroad's decision to bypass Minnesela and to continue on to Belle Fourche in 1890 caused the town to be abandoned by 1901.
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The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to 7,244 feet (2,208 m), is the range's highest summit. The Black Hills encompass the Black Hills National Forest. The name of the hills in Lakota is Pahá Sápa. The Black Hills are considered a holy site. The hills are so called because of their dark appearance from a distance, as they are covered in evergreen trees.
The Rawhide Buttes Stage Station, the Running Water Stage Station and the Cheyenne–Black Hills Stage Route comprise a historic district that commemorates the stage coach route between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Deadwood, South Dakota. The route operated beginning in 1876, during the height of the Black Hills Gold Rush, and was replaced in 1887 by a railroad.
The Maltese Cross Cabin is a cabin used by Theodore Roosevelt, before he was President. The cabin is currently located at the visitor center at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, just outside the town of Medora, North Dakota.
The Elkhorn Ranch was established by Theodore Roosevelt on the banks of the Little Missouri River 35 miles north of Medora, North Dakota in the summer of 1884. Roosevelt hired Bill Sewall and Wilmot Dow, two Maine woodsmen, to run the ranch. Sewall and Dow built the ranch house, "a long, low house of logs," in the winter of 1884–1885.
The Thoen Stone is an inscribed sandstone slab that was discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota by Louis Thoen in 1887. The inscription, dated 1834, was supposedly made by the last survivor of a gold mining party whose members were killed by Native Americans after discovering gold in the area. The discovery of the stone called into question the first discovery of gold in the Black Hills and the history of gold mining in the area; if the account provided by the inscription is authentic, it would mean that gold was discovered in the Black Hills 40 years before the Custer Expedition of 1874 and the subsequent Black Hills Gold Rush. It is currently on display at the Adams Museum & House in Deadwood, South Dakota.
Monterey is a historic plantation house located at Roanoke, Virginia. It was built about 1845, and is a two-story, banked, Greek Revival style brick dwelling with a spreading hipped roof. Two additions were made to the original house after 1871, which gives it an "L"-shape. The front facade features a full-width verandah style porch and the rear has a two-story gallery. Also on the property is a contributing smoke house.