Shindler

In 1886 the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Falls & Northwestern Railroad built a railway line form Larchwood, Iowa, through Springdale Township, Lincoln County, to Sioux Falls, Dakota Territory. The Springdale Station depot was established here; later it became Hobsonville. In 1891, two years after statehood, it was renamed Shindler in memory of a pioneer homesteader.

To serve the needs of area farmers, tradesmen built stores for their businesses and homes for their families on this site. Businesses included the Shindler State Bank, a general store, hardware store and lumber yard, post office, blacksmith shop, garage and service station, grain elevator, stockyards for shipping of livestock by train, and a barber.

The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Line, the successor railroad, provided daily passenger, freight, and mail services. A town hall opened in 1910 and quickly became the social hub for the small community. The hall hosted square dances, church services, Sunday school, basketball games, school programs, Red Cross meetings, talent plays, and community parties.

An annual diversion for area residents was provided when the circus train rolled through town. Parents and their excited children gathered at the depot and alongside the railroad tracks to wave at the railroad cars carrying wild animals and entertainers. During Prohibition years, three enterprising farmers built an open-air dance floor; dances were regularly held each summer with local bands providing the music.

The dances were dubbed ‘Bowery dances’ because it was rumored that a bootlegger who lived nearby provided alcohol for partygoers. Young people from surrounding towns flocked here for Saturday night dances, and Shindler residents referred to those from Sioux Falls as ‘the packing house crowd.’ The Great Depression of the 1930s, combined with years of drought and crop failures of area farmers, led to the decline of Shindler.

The automobile replaced horse-drawn buggies and wagons. Dirt trails leading to larger towns became graveled roads which later became concrete highways. One by one the businesses closed, the bank failed, and residents moved away. The small town had served its purpose. When the post office closed in 1953, Shindler was no more.

Fond memories, tales of simpler times, and stories about making do with what one has are all that is left of the town of Shindler. Dedicated in 2003 by former residents and friends of Shindler Dedicated in 2003 by the South Dakota State Historical Society, and the South Dakota Department of Transportation