The World’s Largest Pheasant
Truthfully, I wondered if this really is the world’s largest pheasant. I mean, who keeps track of these things? Maybe Guinness did at one time, but now, I’m not sure. And I wasn’t sure 60 years ago either.
In the mid fifties, I remember my grandfather and my dad taking me out to see the new highway, a four lane wonder that showed Huron was on the fast track to becoming the center of commerce in South Dakota. Or something like that. It must have been a weekend because I remember standing in the middle of the construction (road) looking both ways and marveling at how big it all would be. And the bridge across the James!! Wow.
Right next to the four lane highway was this little building with the pheasant. The building was lots of things over the years I was paying attention. When I was a teen, we’d buy chislics there (no one except a South Dakotan knows what a chislic is). But I also remember it as a liquor store. When I took the picture in 2011 it was empty.
Sometime in the 50s, construction began or had begun on The Plains complex…a virtual megapolis to the youngster in me. Over the years The Plains went from 9th Wonder of the World to something else. I haven’t been there in years but have read the reviews on Tripadvisor so I don’t think it’s what it was. Of course, “what it was” through a teenager’s eye is probably much different than an adult’s eye. But, I remember…
You’d walk in the front door and the coffee shop was on the right, bowling alley straight ahead. Lots of folks ate breakfast in the coffee shop and the prices were fair. The bowling alley was modern (60 years ago) and so was very popular. My parents both bowled in women's and men’s and couple’s leagues during the winter. I think there was an alcove on the far left of the building with pinball machines.
If you turned right from the bowling alley you’d go up a couple of steps into the bar. The bar had a glass wall overlooking the bowling alley and a small stage for live music. I never played there, they probably had a rule about minimum age or something. I think someone named Barnes owned the bar or maybe all of The Plains. On the other side of the bar was the dining room, the fanciest one in town. My high school class 50 year reunion had lunch in the fancy dining room…it wasn’t the same. But then, neither were we. Smile.
On the far end of the building was the great hall. That’s where they had weddings, dances, and, I’m pretty sure roller skating. Seems like my 6th grade class roller skated there as part of graduation. My parent’s 50th wedding anniversary was in that hall.
The image below is from the Huron Tigers Homecoming game, 2017.
Huron Tigers Homecoming, 2017