Viborg, South Dakota 57070 - U.S. Post Offices on Waymarking.com

Located in Turner County, South Dakota, Viborg has a population of 759 as of July 2009, reflecting a 9% drop in population from the 2000 census.

The area was settled by Danish, German, Norwegian, Irish, and Dutch immigrants and the town was incorporated on October 27, 1903.

"Peter Larsen Christiansen has the indubious honor of being the first Dane to settle in the area around Viborg, South Dakota. He came here in 1864 and homesteaded near Swan Lake. At this time Dakota Territory was still in its infancy, being created in 1861, and its population was extremely sparse; especially in what is now Turner County. As a matter of fact, it can be said that Danish people were living in this region even before the organization of Turner County. The Dakota Territorial Government, located at Yankton, established Turner County on January 13, 1871. By this time several Danish families had already settled in the area south of Swan Lake.

"In 1872 Mads Rasmussen began operating a store on his homestead claim, which was located one half mile south of the present-day site of Viborg. After the establishment of a post office in conjunction with the store, this small business became known as Daneville. Soon other businesses, such as a creamery and a blacksmith shop, began to arise around Mads Rasmussen's store. Daneville quickly became a thriving little village. The success of this Danish hamlet, however would not be long-lived.

"A desire for many of these early settlers was the establishment of a railroad line to exist within their community. In 1893 the Sioux Falls, Yankton, and Southwestern Railroad, which later became the Great Northern Railroad, completed a rail line between the cities of Sioux Falls and Yankton. Thus, this new railroad went right through Turner County. Unfortunately, the railway missed the village of Daneville by one half mile. A group of individuals then decided to build a new town along the railroad tracks north of Daneville. On a recommendation of Ole Sorensen, who was one of the land owners on which the new village was founded, the town was name Viborg after an ancient city in Denmark.

"Following the establishment of Viborg, Daneville gradually ceased to exist. Andrew Jensen, who purchased Mads Rasmussen's store, quickly moved his place of business to Viborg. Eventually the blacksmith shop also moved to Viborg, and the creamery discontinued to operate. The once thriving hamlet of Daneville had become a distant memory."
"The village of Viborg was established in 1893 when the railroad came through. Will C. Larsen built the first store in Viborg in 1893. A storm came through town on July 4th and the store blew down. However, this did not discourage Will and he rebuilt the store. He also ran the post office. W.C. Moulton was depot agent, Mr. Feare was the grain buyer and F.M. Wheeler was manager of the lumber yard. C.J. Glood and Charlie Nelson started a hardware store, F.L. Larsen and Andrew Jensen operated a general store where the pioneers could purchase clothing (klaertoi) and food supplies. Fred Steffensen, over at the stockyards, bought livestock from the farmers. The hotel that was operated by Nelse Miller was located at the south end of Main Street. This building still stands in 1990. Just south of the hotel stood a horse livery barn operated by two brothers Knut and Pete Petersen. The farmers could keep their horses there in bad weather while they conducted their business in town. Pete Andersen had a caf? in the building on east Park Street which later was the Hans Jorgensen Photo Shop."

This history of Viborg's origins was taken from Pages 9, 42, and 43 of the Viborg Centennial history book, printed in 1993 by the Viborg History Book Committee.

Type of structure:: Stand alone re-enter Zip Code here:: 57070 Current Status:: Still in Use

Visit Instructions:
To post a log to an existing U.S. Post Office waymark, you will need to post a picture of the front of the building, with the name of the post office in the background if that is possible.

A description of your Post Office is required, such as when it was built, history, outstanding or unique features, population of the city or town, just do a quick internet search and find an interesting bit of information about the city or town and add it to the long description, to make it more interesting. Even just adding in the population of the area can give others an idea of how many people this post office serves. This description should be at least three sentences.

If your Post Office has any unusual or unique features that you feel others would enjoy viewing, additional pictures are always welcome.
Including your gps device in the picture is not necessary, but wouldn't be cause for disapproval, as long as all other details of your log are acceptable.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.