John Sutherland and the Capital Fights

The bronze calls the elections raucous; they were also bought. In 1904, the last of the capital fights, Mitchell was the challenger. Its backers brought John Philip Sousa to the Corn Palace for a week at a cost of $7,000 and put up a building meant to be the capitol, which became Mitchell's city hall. Railroads handed out thousands of passes so voters could inspect each town. Sutherland's operatives worked the state with orders, by one account, to buy votes only where that cancelled the Mitchell men's. Pierre won for the third time.

What the plaque says

John Sutherland and the Capital Fights Born in Canada, John Sutherland taught school in Wisconsin and received his law degree from Brown University. He came to Dakota Territory in 1884. The young Scottish attorney led Pierre's cam- paign committee to resounding victories in the "capital wars" of 1889, 1890, and 1904. In those raucous statewide elections, voters chose Pierre over Huron, Mitchell, Sioux Falls, Watertown, Chamberlain, and other challengers. Sutherland was a Progressive Republican. His 1904 capital campaign slogan, Stand Pat for Pierre, reflected his support for Theodore Roosevelt, whose 1904 re-election campaign theme was Stand Pat. In 1905, State Rep- resentative Sutherland introduced the legislation that started the construction of the State Capitol, which workers completed in 1910. Sutherland was president of the Pierre Board of Education and Pierre Board of Trade, as well as active in the South Dakota State Historical Society and Baptist Church. He died in 1941 and is buried in Pierre's Riverside Cemetery. This house on the corner of North Huron and West Capitol Avenues was the Sutherland family home. The building across the street to the east was dedicated the John Sutherland Building in 2010 in honor of his contributions.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• South Dakota State Capitol — 0.4 mi
  A copper-domed capitol built to end three elections' worth of fighting over where the capital belonged, beside a lake fed by an artesian well with a gas flame burning in it.
• Verendrye Monument — 1.7 mi
  The hilltop above Fort Pierre where three children found a lead plate in 1913 that two French brothers had buried in 1743 to claim the West for their king.
• Oahe Dam — 6.0 mi
  One of the largest rolled-earth dams in the world, dedicated by President Kennedy in 1962, holding back a reservoir that reaches more than 230 miles to Bismarck.

More markers nearby

• First and Only Hanging in Hughes County — steps away
• Hughes County Courthouse and Library — steps away
• Pierre Was a Cowtown - Reading Brands — 0.3 mi
• Steamboat Reach — 0.5 mi