Early Businesses in Lakota

According to Mrs. A.C. Wehe's, The Story of Lakota, the first general store in town was built by the Holman brothers.  The John Week's Mercantile Company was moved to Lakota from Bartlett in 1883.  This was later sold to the Lakota Mercantile Company. 

A. Moen owned a general merchandise store.  Lakota's first hardware store operated out of a building moved here from Bartlett in 1883. 

The city's first doctor, George H. Jackson, and its first pharmacist, Sidney St. John, owned the first drug store.  Another building moved here from Bartlett, housed Lakota's first bank, the Nelson County State Bank.  The First National Bank was in a building on the site that is now occupied by the Wheeler Brothers repair shop.  The People's State Bank building now houses Born Again Furniture. 

The new city needed a hotel, and the Fargo Hotel was moved from Bartlett in 1883.  A second hotel, Hotel Lakota, was built in 1884.

The Legion Hall housing 3rd Base Bar, was the first livery and feed stable in town.  It was also moved here from Bartlett in 1883. 

Dr. Jackson's office was also the post office until October 2, 1883, when Margaritte J. Love was appointed postmistress.  The post office was in the front of her home, a converted sheepshed on the site of the present State Bank of Lakota.

The first lawyers in town were Walter Tallant, Thomas Tallant, an Jeff Myers. 

The city prospered, and by 1898 was on its way to becoming an area trade center.