Fisher Grove

½ Mi. North Before white settlers came, this vicinity was inhabited by the Yankton tribe of the Sioux nation and numerous reminders of these people can still be seen in the burial mounds, storage cellars and artifacts that have been found. Fisher Grove was established in 1878, Frank I. Fisher, a lawyer from Indiana, stopped here while traveling down the James River.

On the bank of the James, vestiges on an old wagon trail denotes the point as Fisher’s Ford, later known as Belcher’s Ford. Here the rocky bottom in the river afforded a crossing spot for Indians and settlers wagons. Here, too, was built a large sod barn for the stagecoach line operated by Fred Rodgers which was on the direct route from Pierre to Watertown.

Rodgers also operated the first post office here from 1879 until 1883 when it was later moved to nearby Frankfort (named after Frank’s Ford). A sequence of events, including the move of Drifting Goose and his band to a reservation, brought the white man in greater numbers to the area. Fisher Grove became a state park in 1946.

One of the first rural schools in Spink County, built in 1884, was moved to the park in 1961.