Five Surprising Names That Almost Replaced South Dakota

It wasn't always a given that the state we reside in would be named "South Dakota". In fact, it came very close to being labeled something entirely different.

Imagine if the geography books of today looked a little different. Instead of the Twin Cities being the gateway to the Mount Rushmore State, you might have found yourself crossing the border into the State of Winona. When the Dakota Territory was being carved up in the late 1800s, the battle for an identity was just as fierce as the fight for statehood itself. From political maneuvering in Washington to local settlers clashing over tribal translations, the map we know today was almost completely unrecognizable from the one back then.

Here's a list of five of the forgotten names that very nearly replaced South Dakota.

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Tatanka is a fairly simple one. It means "buffalo" or "bison bull" in the Lakota Sioux language. The Lakota populated much of what is today known as South Dakota before Europeans arrived. In fact, at least 70,000 Lakota reside within the state's borders today. It's a name that represents a sacred animal to the Lakota people, and it provided them with food, shelter, clothing, tools, and was an animal that symbolizes the legacy of the people of the Great Plains Region.

The name Tatanka was presented by Congressman William Springer in 1889 when the U.S. House of Representatives was in session to ultimately decide what the state's name would be. Springer was vehemently against naming the states North Dakota and South Dakota, believing that the two should have separate, distinct names. And while he thought Tatanka was a fitting name for the southern state, he liked another name even more.

Congressman William Springer's number one choice just so happened to be the name of a town that lies in Minnesota. At the time, it was thought Winona had the best chance (other than "South Dakota) of being the top name chosen. Like Tatanka, it's also a word that's prominently featured in the Lakota language, meaning "First-Born daughter" and often associated with honor and strength. Interestingly enough, Congressman Springer suggested that the northern half of the Dakota Territory keep the name "Dakota". Dakota and Winona? I like it.

This one is also pretty obvious. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at the end of the Civil War in 1865, and shortly afterward, a large swath of American cities and towns were named after the revered leader. It was briefly debated in the U.S. legislature, but it's thought that Congress wanted to keep the "Dakota" name to honor those who came before and their heritage.

This one is an interesting proposition. Some of the early settlers of the Dakota Territory thought this would be the best way to split the two territories in half (if they had to be split in half at all). The idea was to split the two at the Missouri River, making an East Dakota and West Dakota. This was actually considered by the U.S. Congress in 1886.

Many historians and geographers today still contest that this should have been how the two states were split in the first place, as the cities of Sioux Falls, Yankton, and Brookings have a lot more in common with Fargo than they do with Rapid City or Deadwood.

Why didn't it work out that way? In one word: population. In 1889, almost everyone lived in the Eastern half. A "West Dakota" state would have been massive in size but had almost no people (aside from the Black Hills gold miners), making it difficult to function as a full state.

There was also the fact that the two centers of power at that time were in Yankton and Bismarck, and neither was keen on sharing a state with the other. So, lawmakers made a compromise and East and West Dakota became North Dakota and South Dakota.

Originally, the southern half (South Dakota) wanted to keep the name "Dakota" for itself, while the northern half would be called the Territory of Pembina (after the Red River settlement). This obviously never happened, although, in my opinion, each name would be rather fitting.

To learn more about the history of the Dakotas (and the proposed name changes), check out this article from Time Magazine.