We Saw Our Home (Mitchell, Yankton: coop, house, employment)

[NEWMINI]

My husband & I closed on a home in Tripp, SD in early Dec. We went to see the home over the Christmas Hoilday, we loved the home, the people in town are great. The people are very warm, opened there homes, etc. We live in AZ for know but we can't wait to live in Tripp SD full time. We have 1 son and he is 12 he liked it just as much as we did. We want to thank the people of SD for making us feel like we are home. We have never been to SD. We want to get away from the big city and start a business.

Tripp, SD is a city of about 700(maybe more or less) we would like to hear some input from anyone on small town business. A list of small town business, would be great.

We would like to be home in Tripp by summer full time. Any help would be great. We know that one of us needs a job. My husband is a machinist and very handy with cars. We are about 11 mile to parkston and 35 miles to Mitchell.

any info would be great thank you and have a happy and healthy New Year

[Jammie]

Hi Mini, sorry I deleted my previous post. I gave too many specifics to protect my anonimity.

I used to be very familiar with Tripp. It's my hometown. I grew up on a farm a few miles from there. I do have fond memories of the town. We'd all go to Hinks (not there anymore after a few generations) or we'd go to the movie hall (theatre) or we'd go bowling. OR our infamous walking the streets and just having fun. I'm a baby boomer and when I grew up down there, the town had about 900 people and also included a huge farming area. At the time, farmers would farm a quarter or two so there were a lot of farmers in the area. Now, in order to succeed, they need to farm a few SECTIONS, which of course cuts down on the population of the surrounding area.

I haven't lived there for over 30 years, but I've watched the town go downhill as the older generation has passed on. There are no jobs there and I would be cautious about starting a new business there. It's too far from Mitchell or Yankton to be a bedroom town. At one time a factory wanted to locate there and it would've employed 900 people, but the old city fathers were against it because they didn't want "all that low life" moving into town. Hence, the town is slowly dying. Parkston would be a possible place for employment for your husband, but if not, Mitchell would be the next option. Our past two winters have been nice and this one appears to be a nice one so far. But we can have brutal winters and driving 70 miles a day can be quite a task. (Roundtrip from Tripp to Mitchell) Tripp Schools have now taken Delmont in since both are very low in population.

The community can be very friendly, but one word of caution. It is a small community and of course, gossip is one of their favorite pastimes. Just not much else to do except go for coffee and gossip. But if you're set on moving to Tripp, let me wish you luck and happiness there.

[ElkHunter]

I'm sorry, I can't help you much with what you are wanting, but I had to mention that my Grandparents were raised in the Tripp area and when they got married built a house in Tripp. I've been there a thousand times and I remember it fondly. They lived straight across from Co-op. Course they passed years ago. But I went down to Tripp just to drive through and look. My heart was broken when I found their house was gone. The old ditch I played in was filled in, they've added drainage. haha But I remember standing out and catching candy during the parades. I remember all of the wonderful Hooterights and Minninights coming to town to sell their crops. It was like a festival all summer long. Grandma used to give me a nickle and say, "Go get an ice cream at the co-op but watch for cars." Course there was about 3 cars a day on that road. I'd remind her that I could get 2 ice creams if she gave me 8 cents. Am I dating myself? haha

Tripp is one of the most wonderful places I've ever been. Indians down in that area used to say, "You can see for three days". In other words, if you could see something, it would take you 3 days to walk there. It was that flat.
Jim

[Jammie]

OMG Guzzler, we may have bumped into each other down there. I was born down there in 1955 and I'm familiar with the site of the coop and I probably have heard of your grandparents. My ancestors are all from that area and we go down every Memorial Day to bring flowers to their resting places. My parents, grandparents, and great grandparents along with my aunts and uncles and even some cousins are buried there. They all pretty much stayed in that area and most of them were farmers. What state do you live in now?

[ElkHunter]

It was the big three story white house. Had a barn out back and a shop halfway between the house and barn. The Harm's Family.

We probably did bump into each other. My mom passed when I was only 6 months old and my dad was a trucker. So we spent every summer with the grandparents.

Now, I live in Sheridan Wyoming, nestled up against the Big Horn Mountains.

Jim

[Jammie]

OK I don't remember your grandparents, but I definitely know the name. Your ancestors were military families. I remember the Jelkin/Harms Post in Tripp. Sorry to hear you lost your Mom so early in life.

[ElkHunter]

Jamie, this conversation is great but lets remember that NEWMINI started the thread wanting info on Tripp. We'll continute it elsewhere :=-)

Tripp is a wonderful place to live. Probably in this day and age, not the best place to bring up kids. Please don't get me wrong, it's just not populated enough to offer a child a well rounded education. I say that not against the schools, but school is only half of your education. The other half is to get along with folks, stand up to the bully, say hello to the neighbor,

I had a son, that the point in time was opportune. I placed him in a school that only had 5 other kids in his grade. I thought it would be terrific because he'd have almost 1 on 1 with his teacher. I found out, "Not the most in opportune thing to do". But that's another story.