Dakota Life: Greetings from Milbank

This month Dakota Life ventures northeastward to feature Milbank. The seat of Grant County, Milbank sports a population of about 3,400 folks and is known as the home of American Legion Baseball.

Dakota Life: Greetings from Milbank premieres on SDPB1 and SDPB.org Thursday, October 7, at 8pm (7 MT) and rebroadcasts Sunday, October 10, at 1pm (noon MT).

Holland Grist Windmill

Built by English settler Henry Holland in 1884, the Milbank Grist Mill was completely reconstructed in 2009. It stands 44 feet high and is fitted with four sails that are each sevenfeet wide and 30-feet long. Tours and live demonstrations are offered several times a year.

Piano Man

We’ll travel to Stockholm, South Dakota, to meet piano repairman and keyboard collector Steve Misener. Misener’s been collecting pianos, organs, and other keyed instruments for nearly 40 years. Most of the 130 instruments in his collection date to the 18th and 19th centuries. Some can be connected in one way or another to musical greats such as Haydn and Brahms. Others were rescued just before they could be thrown out. Steve Misener has travelled the world looking for information about particular instruments and he’s considered one of the top experts in the field of vintage keyboards.

American Legion Baseball

Milbank is the birthplace of American Legion baseball in the United States. It was founded in 1925 with the first conversations of a baseball league for the youth with the American Legion. It’s been 95 years since its inception, and the city of Milbank is still passionate about the sport.

Kingpin: Bowler Mike Mach

Mike Mach of Milbank has been bowling since the 1980s, and recently won a National Senior Bowling Championship (ages 60-64) in Nevada. Today he’s celebrating his accomplishment doing what he loves most – bowling at his local spot.