CCC museum wins 2024 Governor’s Awards for History

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Museum of South Dakota at the Hill City Visitor Information Center (VIC) received the 2024 Governor’s Awards for History from the South Dakota Historical Society. 

Every year the historical society gives an award to a nonprofit and a for-profit organization “who exhibit meritorious endeavors in the field of history in South Dakota,” according to the website. 

CCC museum board member Kim Benning submitted the nomination and board member Peggy Sanders received the award at the state history conference in Pierre April 6. 

“I was really thrilled. It was a nice surprise,” said Sanders. 

Board member Otto Bochman said, “I think it’s nice recognition for the museum, but it’s also important to tell the story of the history so it doesn’t get lost and forgotten. That’s the only reason I’m here. What these guys did is pretty impressive and what it did for the families.” 

According to Bochman, the CCC was a depression-era program that ran from 1933-42 and provided 3.5 million young men across the nation with work. In South Dakota, around 30,000 men served in the CCC. 

“Franklin Roosevelt actually ran on putting the program together. The stock market had crashed in 1929. Unemployment went to over 25 percent, and this was a way to employ young guys to send money back to their families,” said Bochman. 

Bochman said the CCC made most of the lakes in the area except for Sylvan, Pactola and Legion. It also helped with Iron Mountain Road, Custer State Park, Wind Cave and Jewel Cave. Then at Black Elk Peak, formerly Harney Peak, it built the stone fire tower and the steps at the base. 

“They just did a lot,” said Bochman, and the money helped members’ families. 

“About 40 years after the CCCs were formed, South Dakota area CCC men began to have reunions,” said Sanders. 

These reunions were revived when Sander’s book “The Civilian Conservation Corps In and Around the Black Hills,” debuted at the Journey Museum in Rapid City. People started sending Sanders CCC artifacts, photos, books, diaries and more in the mail. Jay Hendrickson and other CCC members decided to start gathering things together as well. 

“Soon after the National Association of CCC Alumni gathering, Melvin Hermanson, Rapid City, offered to fund a CCC Worker Statue at a cost of $20,000 delivered from Michigan. The group discussed where the statue would be placed and made out our wish list one, in a town that is open all year; two, in a town that had CCC camps nearby; and three, in front of a CCC museum. Each time we talked, we came back to Hill City as our choice,” said Sanders.

Today the statue is located outside the Hill City Visitor Information Center (VIC), which used to be a Forest Service building, and the CCC museum is upstairs. 

“As time passed, some volunteers got involved. I got involved with it to some extent, and we just started adding information and gathering stuff from family members and people who came in,” said Bochman. “We just try to keep the history alive.”

The museum displays feature pictures, maps, a 48- star flag, trunks, clothes, pillowcases men could buy as gifts for family members, a replica of the phones used in lookout towers and more. There is also a large display of tools used by CCC members with pick axes, saws and axes. 

“We try to put information with as many of them as we can because people come in and have questions about them,” said Bochman. 

Many people come to the museum to look for the names of relatives in the annuals, which were donated to the museum. 

After being asked numerous times how to determine where someone served, Sanders created an electronic database of the rosters. She typed names from the CCC annuals from 1933 through the first half of 1937, which yielded around 21,000 names. These can be viewed online at southdakotaccc.org and in printed form at the museum. 

One milestone was in 2015 when the board asked District 30 Rep. Mike Verchio to sponsor a bill. The bill was passed by the 2016 South Dakota State Legislature, and it designated the museum as the official CCC Museum of South Dakota. 

Around the same time Bochman joined the museum board and started volunteering. Sanders said he brought a fresh set of skills and helped design the website, make displays, organize artifacts and create a retail side for the museum. 

“With his background, he was able to put together a successful book/gift shop. Otto and fellow board member Kerry Connor create wooden figures and objects that they donate to the gift shop for sale,” said Sanders. 

These items are still for sale today including wooden baby bottles, mallets, Christmas ornaments, hammers and more. All the materials and work are donated. Bochman said it is the result of “old guys with too much time on their hands.” 

Another milestone for the museum was when a family from Kansas donated a fully restored 1935 GMC truck built for the CCC. The owners visited the museum while traveling through the Black Hills in 2009 and contacted the board members about donating the truck. 

Sanders said it took eight years of planning to meet the stipulations and move the truck, but it was dedicated July 29, 2019. 

A third unique milestone was when an oil painting crafted by a CCC member stationed in Custer State Park was found. It is believed that the artist painted it after duty hours, and he was later an artist for Walt Disney. 

The painting had traveled around the country to Oregon and was discovered on Craig’s List by Kathleen Duxbury, who is an expert on CCC art. After some finagling, the CCC museum board purchased the painting. It is now displayed in the museum. 

Today, Sanders said, “The museum continues to accept donations, both financial and CCC memorabilia and photos.” 

Admission to the museum is based on donations, and it is open the same hours as the VIC. The board members include Benning, Elaine Hendrickson, Eileen Hamm, Dave Maudlin, Kelly O’Brien, Joan Sutton, Marilyn Oakes, Sanders, Bochman and Conner.

Bochman drives from Rapid City almost every day to talk to visitors and keep the museum running. He plans to retire in January but will likely continue to stop by the museum. 

“I volunteer to meet and greet the visitors and answer questions if I can. And a lot of times, they (the visitors) answer questions which is interesting,” said Bochman. 

“We’ve worked on it for a long time, and we see the interest of the locals and the visitors that come in,” said Sanders. “It’s just good to have people know about us.”