Yankton, SD #994

Welcome to Yankton Elks Lodge 994, Yankton, S.D. 57078. Phone 605-665-3333. Our lodge was instituted Oct. 12, 1905. We celebrated our century of service to the Yankton area by hosting a prime rib dinner for members and guests October 15, 2005. Yankton's new 7,300-square-feet all ground-level lodge opened Feb. 1, 2003. The lodge is located adjacent to the Fox Run municipal golf course in north central Yankton. Our new lodge home adjacent to the golf course has helped us to recruit and maintain a membership of over 600 members with a median age of 62 years of age in a city with about 14,000 residents. Visitors and members from outside the area, who may be planning a visit to the Yankton area, may be interested in knowing that our lodge is just a long city block west of the Holiday Inn Express. Reservation information may be obtained by calling the motel at 866-252-5317. Yankton Elks Lodge meetings are held at 6 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesday of each month except July and August when just one meeting per month is held. Full menu service is offered to members and guests 6-9 p.m. Wednesday and Friday evening. Beverage service begins at 4:00 p.m. seven days weekly, except for holidays. Please call Yankton Elks Lodge at 605-665-3333 for any additional information. Our lodge does not currently offer motor home or camper facilities but we are located just three blocks south of a new Super Walmart store and travelers often park on the Walmart lot overnight and walk three blocks to visit our new lodge home. No lodge camper accomodations are planned as the premier camping/biking/boating/fishing facility in the Midwest is available five miles west of Yankton along the first 10 miles of Lewis and Clark Lake, formed by Gavins Point Dam, the newest of the five main stem dams of the Missouri River. Easy highway access is available between Yankton and the lake area via a new four-lane blacktop highway. A new hiking/biking trail from central Yankton to the entire lakeside area has also been completed. Yankton is the Mother City of the Dakotas. Nomadic tribes of Sioux made camp in the immediate Yankton area along the Missouri River for centuries before pioneers made Yankton their home as early as 1859. Lewis and Clark made camp several times in the Yankton area. The Corps of Discovery team smoked pipes of peace with the Sioux on Spirit Mound 25 miles east of Yankton, as well as on the chalk bluffs of the Missouri at Yankton before continuing upstream in 1803. Steamboats which plied the muddy waters of the Missouri brought boatloads of miners, soldiers, farmers, adventurers upstream from St. Louis. It was a steamboat, the Far West, and its owner from Yankton which returned survivors of Custer's Seventh Cavalry Battle at Little Bighorn from Montana downstream to Bismarck, N.D. Another Yankton resident, Felix Vinatieri, served as regimental band director for Custer's troops. Fortunately, he did not accompany the Seventh Cavalry into Montana where Custer elected to attack an Indian village along the Little Big Horn. Had he listened to his "recon team", he may not have elected to make his fateful attack on the Indian camp where at least 2,500 Indian warriors amassed to defend their families. The Vinatieri name will be familiar to NFL fans as the great-great-grandson of Felix Vinatieri is the place kicker for the Patriots team. Yankton was also home for a time to NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw while he completed high school here. Yankton had been the site of the Dakota Territorial capital until political shenanigans, which took place aboard a moving railroad car on a special train, allowed the location of the capital to be shifted to Bismarck, and later (after statehood) to Pierre. Readers may begin to realize the historical aspect of the Yankton community and Yankton Elks Lodge has been a part of this background for 100 years. Come visit our lodge and our community to sample the flavor of the true pioneering spirit which began in Yankton, the Mother City of the Dakotas. Should you have a need for more information or maps, please call the Yankton Area Chamber of Commerce 605.665.3636 or visit their website at www.yanktonsd.com or find the local visitors guide at www.yankton.net. And please be sure to visit our lodge while visiting Southeastern South Dakota. You may soon come to understand why our medical care facilities, educational institutions and employment opportunities along the last wild and scenic stretch of the Missouri River has helped Yankton to become a mecca for everyone from young families to retirees who have found the hospitality of the Yankton area fully compliments all the recreational and health care opportunites in the area. You may also learn more about Yankton and Yankton Elks Lodge by addressing inquiries to: Yankton Elks Lodge #994, 504 West 27th Street, Yankton, SD 57078 or by calling the lodge at 605-665-3333.