1953: The Dedication Ceremony for a Replacement Bridge in South Dakota

December 7, 1953

A new version of the Chamberlain Bridge in South Dakota was dedicated. This structure spans Lake Francis Case, an artificial reservoir that is impounded by Fort Randall Dam on the Missouri River, and it connects the city of Chamberlain in Brule County with the town of Oacoma in Lyman County. The present-day Chamberlain Bridge carries a business route (loop) of Interstate 90. The original Chamberlain Bridge had been opened in 1925. This bridge was located slightly north of its replacement.

The public officials taking part in the dedication of the new bridge included Sigurd Anderson, governor of South Dakota; and Herschel Melchoir, mayor of Chamberlain. One of their shared ceremonial duties on that Monday afternoon involved cutting a tape to formally open the current Chamberlain Bridge to traffic. (The accompanying photo of this bridge was taken in 2007.)

Photo Credit: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:KLOTZ) – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

Additional information on both versions of the Chamberlain Bridge is available at https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/854f920a-3aa7-4d83-aa16-9c0aabfa3831