Leslie Jensen Scenic Drive

Two copies of this 1962 bronze stand on the drive, identical except for their foot lines: one placed by Friends of Leslie Jensen, the other by J. E. Steger. Steger was an Illinois man who came to the Black Hills for his health after the First World War and stayed to build highways, and a 1964 state marker, not found in place, credits this scenic drive itself to his inspiration and effort. His copy carries a second face welcoming drivers to Hot Springs and its national and state soldiers' homes. Jensen was governor from 1937 to 1939.

What the plaque says

Leslie Jensen Scenic Drive This highway along Fall River is dedicated to Leslie Jensen, 15th Governor of South Dakota 1937-1939, a native of Hot Springs, and a son of Chris Jensen, Black Hills Pioneer and Lillie May Haxby Jensen. Educated in Hot Springs, Culver Military Academy and the University of South Dakota, he took an early interest in the Military and was a Lieutenant in the 4th South Dakota Infantry on the Mexican Border in 1916-17 and when that organization became the 147th Field Artillery in World War I, he went to France with it and was the Regimental Adjutant. Staying with the 147th, he was its Lieutenant Colonel in 1937 when, as Governor, he became his own Commander- in-Chief. Promoted to Colonel in 1941, he took his Regiment to the South Pacific in World War II and when the Regiment was battalionized in 1943, he served with distinction as a Base Commander on the staff of the Commanding General of the Sixth Army. In 1921 he was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the District of South Dakota serving until 1934 when he returned to Hot Springs and to the telephone business which his father had started in 1894. His administration, in 1937, initiated a Highway Construction program of great economic and social benefit to his native state. Erected 1962 by Friends of Leslie Jensen and the State Highway Commission Leslie Jensen Scenic Drive This highway along Fall River is dedicated to Leslie Jensen, 15th Governor of South Dakota 1937-1939, a native of Hot Springs, and a son of Chris Jensen, Black Hills Pioneer and Lillie May Haxby Jensen. Educated in Hot Springs, Culver Military Academy and the University of South Dakota, he took an early interest in the Military and was a Lieutenant in the 4th South Dakota Infantry on the Mexican Border in 1916-17 and when that organization became the 147th Field Artillery in World War I, he went to France with it and was the Regimental Adjutant. Staying with the 147th, he was its Lieutenant Colonel in 1937 when, as Governor, he became his own Commander- in-Chief. Promoted to Colonel in 1941, he took his Regiment to the South Pacific in World War II and when the Regiment was battalionized in 1943, he served with distinction as a Base Commander on the staff of the Commanding General of the Sixth Army. In 1921 he was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the District of South Dakota serving until 1934 when he returned to Hot Springs and to the telephone business which his father had started in 1894. His administration, in 1937, initiated a Highway Construction program of great economic and social benefit to his native state. Erected 1962 by J. E. Steger and State Highway Commission

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Mammoth Site — 3.5 mi
  A housing lot in Hot Springs where a bulldozer turned up a tusk in 1974 and the developer gave up the subdivision for sixty-one mammoths.
• Wind Cave National Park — 11 mi
  A cave that breathes through a hole the size of a dinner plate, lined with nearly all the boxwork known on Earth, under a prairie restocked with bison shipped from New York.
• Needles Highway — 25 mi
  Fourteen miles that Governor Peter Norbeck laid out on foot and horseback through the granite spires, threading a tunnel eight feet wide.
• Jewel Cave National Monument — 30 mi
  A cave the prospectors who found it sold to the government for $750, thought to be two miles long until a climbing couple began to walk it in 1959.

More markers nearby

• Hot Springs SD — 2.2 mi
• The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, SD — 3.5 mi
• Battle Mountain — 3.8 mi
• John Stevenson Robertson: Pioneer Horticulturalist — 7.0 mi