The Trail of Governors in Pierre was initiated in 2011, with its first statues unveiled in 2012. This slideshow includes all thirty-one completed statues. The Trail was completed in 2022 as statues of every former governor until that time were placed. Going forward, new statues will be commissioned for governors as they leave office; Governor Kristi Noem’s statue was placed in 2026.
Below the slideshow, a simple map shows the Trail route with the placement of each statue.
Key to statues on map
- Arthur C. Mellette 1889-93
- Charles H. Sheldon 1893-97
- Andrew E. Lee 1897-1901
- Charles N. Herreid 1901-05
- Samuel H. Elrod 1905-07
- Coe Crawford 1907-09
- Robert S. Vessey 1909-13
- Frank M. Byrne 1913-17
- Peter Norbeck 1917-21
- William H. McMaster 1921-25
- Carl Gunderson 1925-27
- William J. Bulow 1927-31
- Warren E. Green 1931-33
- Tom Berry 1933-37
- Leslie Jensen 1937-39
- Harlan J. Bushfield 1939-43
- M. Q. Sharpe 1943-47
- George T. Mickelson 1947-51
- Sigurd Anderson 1951-55
- Joe Foss 1955-59
- Ralph Herseth 1959-61
- Archie Gubbrud 1961-65
- Nils Boe 1965-69
- Frank Farrar 1969-71
- Richard F. Kneip 1971-78
- Harvey Wollman 1978-79
- William J. Janklow 1979-87
- George S. Mickelson 1987-93
- Walter Dale Miller 1993-95
- William J. Janklow 1995-2003 (represented on the Trail by a single statue, #27)
- M. Michael Rounds, 2003-11
- Dennis Daugaard, 2011-19
- Kristi Noem, 2019-25
This is an update of a 2019 post.
SoDak Governors 