How De Smet, South Dakota Got Its Name (Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little Town)

De Smet, South Dakota, is named for Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Belgian Jesuit missionary known as “the Apostle of the Indians.” It’s also the little town on the prairie from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, so it’s famous for two very different reasons.

Where the name comes from

A 1908 railroad guide to place names says the town “was named in honor of Father Peter John DeSmet, S. J., ‘The Apostle of the Indians.’” It goes on: “He was a Belgian and spent his life in civilizing, Christianizing and educating the Indians of the Upper Missouri River valley and in the Rocky mountains.” The U.S. Geological Survey’s place-name record cites the same book.

That’s how a railroad writer described a missionary’s work in 1908. Encyclopaedia Britannica also says the town was named after him, and its biography of him calls him a Belgian-born Jesuit missionary, known among western tribes as “Black Robe.”

The 1908 guide uses the English form of his first name, Peter John. In French it’s Pierre-Jean.

A railroad town

The guide says De Smet was platted in 1880 by the Western Town Lot Company, and the 1899 map above shows it strung along the railroad. The USGS record adds that it was incorporated in 1883.

The little town on the prairie

De Smet’s other claim to fame is Laura Ingalls Wilder. Travel South Dakota says the town is the setting for five of her Little House books, including Little Town on the Prairie. Britannica notes that the Ingalls Home, built in 1887, is now a museum of family memorabilia, and that a Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant is held every summer.

Sources & further reading

• W. H. Stennett, A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways (1908). A public-domain railroad guide. Says the town was named for Father DeSmet and gives the 1880 platting.
• GNIS feature 1265178 (U.S. Geological Survey). The federal record for De Smet. Cites the 1908 guide and gives 1880 for the layout and 1883 for incorporation.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “De Smet” and “Pierre-Jean de Smet.” The town’s namesake, the Ingalls Home and the summer pageant.
• Travel South Dakota, “Little Town on the Prairie.” De Smet as the setting of five Little House books.