[Two Annotated Photographs of Early Groton, South Dakota]

[N.p., likely Groton, SD]: October, 1885. Very good.. Two mounted albumen photographs, 5.5 x 8.25 inches, on 8-x-10-inch plain cardstock. Small chip to bottom edge of each mount, some edge wear, dust-soiling, and rubbing. A highly-informative pair of original photographs of two different areas of Groton, South Dakota just four years after its founding, each identified in the lower margin, both taken in October 1885, both from a slight elevation, and each with numerous manuscript captions in the margins identifying various locations in the images. The first photograph pictures "Central Part of Groton. October 1885." Manuscript captions point to the bank, (truncated) post office, "Trinity Church," the Presbyterian Church, "Presbyterian Parsonage," and an "X" on the Brunswick Hotel identifying "Will's room formerly at the hotel." The second photograph is titled, "Northern Part of Groton, Dakota. In Oct. 1885." Among the buildings identified here are "Will's home," "School house," "New College Buildings," "Bank Building," and the location of Main Street. Each photograph pictures many more buildings than are identified through the captions, and juxtapose the town's collection of buildings against a wide and empty prairie beyond. Together, the photographs provide a rare and early city view of the still-remote city of Groton, located in the north-eastern part of South Dakota, and numbering just 1,380 residents as of the 2020 census. (Inventory #: 3348)