The Codington County Heritage Museum will host a new traveling exhibit, "Marketing Dakota," from teh South Dakota State Historical Society.  Through text and phtographs, visitors explore the trials and tribulations of homesteading on th prairie.  The exhibit runs from March 24th thru June 10th 2010.  Admission is free.

For Dakota, political, social and economic growth depended on bringing in people.  Railroads built lines into the sparsely settled territory hoping immigrants - and profits - would follow.  Town boosters and government officials enticed settlers with promises of good crops and easy weather.  Communities, railroad and the government all advertised aggressively and relity seldom got in the way of a good promotional line.  The marketing worked, too, and thousands answered the call to "Come to Dakota!"  This exhibit looks at the hard sell used to draw settlers to the territory and state.

The exhibit's twelve text panels in four pop-up kiosks feature original advertisements, historic photographs and object images.  "Marketing Dakota" was funded by the Larson Family Foundation and the South Dakota Future Fund.

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