Madison's history includes pioneers and a renowned aviator

The Lake County Museum on Dakota State University's campus preserves Madison, South Dakota's local stories from early pioneers to aviator Eugene Vidal. The museum also displays early personal computers, runs outreach kits, and is hosting events in February.

Madison, South Dakota, preserves local stories at the Lake County Museum on Dakota State University's campus. The museum has been there since 1961 and presents Native American life alongside the county's 1873 establishment. Staff highlight pioneer experiences and notable local figures while also showing later technological history. Exhibits and outreach aim to link the town's past with more recent eras. Exhibits and stories: - The Lake County Museum has been on Dakota State University's campus since 1961 and presents Native American life and Lake County's 1873 establishment. - The Boyd family pioneers walked alongside a wagon for about three weeks and covered hundreds of miles; the family found their barn had burned in a prairie fire and created new shelter. - Eugene Vidal, a Madison native who competed in the 1920 Olympic Games, later served in the Franklin Roosevelt administration as an early aviator and appeared on the cover of Time Magazine; he was associated with Orville Wright and Amelia Earhart and helped start airlines with Earhart. - The museum includes a collection of early personal computers and gaming systems, from an Atari to a PlayStation 3 and a Nintendo Wii, intended to connect with Dakota State and modern audiences. - Staff offer rolling outreach kits with hands-on artifacts, including a sheep and wool kit and a World War II kit sponsored by the local VFW, for education outside the museum. Summary: The museum seeks to tell the community's story across generations, from 19th-century pioneers to 20th-century aviation and later technology. Staff provide outreach and public programming, and the museum is reported to be hosting events in February with information available on its Facebook page.