CANTON, S.D. (KELO) — Nestled about 20 miles away from Sioux Falls and right on the edge of the Iowa border, to some, Canton might just be like any small South Dakota town, but Canton has a fascinating story, and two residents love to tell it.
In Omar Peterson’s apartment, his walls are full of pictures that help tell Canton’s story. You can say that the town means a lot to him.
“That’s why I have all these photos here. I probably have another 35 plus what I have here. Maybe, there’s 150,” Omar Peterson said.
It’s a collection he has spent years building.
“Oh, it keeps me busy. A lot of people ask about it, and a lot of people, they stop and look at them,” Omar Peterson said.
Peterson has passed on his passion for Canton history to his son, Bill.
“It’s always interesting to know about the history of where you live,” Bill Peterson said.
That history starts when settlers arrived to the area in the 1860s, but as the population increased, they needed to come up with a name for their town. That is an interesting story.
“They were having this meeting, and nobody could agree on anything. They finally gave up, but James Wall… he proposed the idea, if you dug straight through the earth, you’d end up in Canton, China. So, Mrs. Fitzgerald supposedly said, ‘Well, that’s a nice name,’ and the women all agreed it was a good name, so the men left and didn’t agree to anything, and the name just stuck,” Bill Peterson said.
Then, the town started to take shape. The Lincoln County Courthouse was built in 1875.
“When they picked the site for the Canton community, that’s what made it strong, to get the courthouse here,” Omar Peterson said.
However, Canton really started to take off when the railroad was built in 1879.
“That was a big boom to the population to grow … The railroad was definitely a big thing, and there was passenger trains that came through here a lot. It was a big deal. Somebody told me at one time, there was 12 passenger trains that came through here every day. You could at one time get on a passenger train, go to Sioux Falls shopping for the day and come back,” Bill Peterson said.
It was also around this time that Augustana started to earn the nickname, the “School on Wheels.” One of its pit stops was in Canton when the college’s academy moved there in 1884.
Now, Augustana’s home is in Sioux Falls, but remnants of the school still remain in Canton today.
Another memory of Canton’s past you can see in town is at the school: a memorial for Canton natives Ernest and John Lawrence.
Ernest, a Nobel Prize winner, was a member of the Manhattan Project and played a key role in the development of the atomic bomb.
“He was a nuclear scientist, physicist, and he was the inventor of the cyclotron,” Bill Peterson said.
Ernest’s cyclotron proved to be important for his brother, John, because it helped him develop cancer treatments.
“They call him the father of nuclear medicine,” Bill Peterson said.
It’s interesting facts like these that the Petersons want to stay alive. However, for Omar, Canton means more to him than just the pictures on the wall.
“I can say I’m real satisfied with being here all my life,” Omar Peterson said.
And as for his collection, Omar says it’s not going anywhere.
“It’s not a moneymaking thing. It’s something for people to enjoy, so I wouldn’t sell it,” Omar Peterson said.
Another prominent figure who is from Canton is Merle Tuve. He was a childhood friend of the Lawrences and helped develop technology that drastically improved defenses against air attacks during World War II.
