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Sherman Park and the Indian Burial Mounds BY WAYNE FANEBUST
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ioux Falls has many scenic city parks, but none as unique and beautiful as Sherman Park, named for Edwin A. Sherman, a pioneer businessman and city builder who settled in his adopted city in 1873. Sherman was the leader and driving force in the creation of McKennan Park on 20 acres of land donated to the city by Helen McKennan, who died in 1906. Ten years later, the man who earned the title
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HISTORY
of “father of the Sioux Falls Park system,” was actively engaged in the creation of Sherman Park, on 56 acres of land he donated to the city. He was given the title of park supervisor, a position he shared with Fred Spellerberg. In January of 1916, plans for landscaping and beautifying the grounds were accepted by the Board of Park Supervisors and by springtime, “dirt was
flying.” In March, the Fanebust Brothers Construction Company was awarded the contract to move 4200 cubic yards of dirt near the swimming beach on the Big Sioux River. Although the Board had purchased an automobile for the park superintendents, many teams of horses were used to haul the dirt. Creation of the park on the high bluff looking over the river was well under way by the month
