De Smet, South Dakota

De Smet (population 1059) is a town in eastern South Dakota most famous for being the site of the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead and the scene of several of the Little House books.

The future townsite was first platted in 1880 by the Chicago and Northwestern Railway who named it in honor of the Jesuit missionary Fr. Pierre De Smet. It was incorporated in 1883. Currently it is known as the Little Town on the Prairie after the volume of the same title of the Little House book series. In connection with the fact that the author of that series, Laura Ingalls Wilder, together with her family, made their homestead near the site, the town is a large tourist attraction with several thousands of visitors each year.

De Smet was also the birthplace of prairie artist Harvey Dunn, several of whose works are on display at the town library.

### Bibliography[edit]

* De Smet, one of the volumes in the Images of America series published by Arcadia Publishing (ISBN 978-1-4671-1355-7)

### External links[edit]

* Tourist information
* Official city government web site of De Smet, South Dakota
* Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead
* Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society
* The Loftus store, which featured in the Little House books
* LIW welcome center with tourist information
* Annual (July) performance based on Little House books and held at Ingalls homestead
* Newspaper covering Kingbury County in which De Smet is located