State Bank of Melville Lodge

J

jomocp

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Does anyone have information on an old Pheasant Hunting Lodge in Melville, SD, possibly west of Watertown or Willow Lake, north of Sioux Falls? My dad stayed there while hunting there in the 60's with his dad, and he is now on a trip down memory lane. He is driving through SD from OH and wants to find his old stomping grounds, and I want to help him get there. He said it was an old brick bank building, and the only other building in this "town" was an old wooden school house at the end of the street.

This "town" was a true "ghost town." The bank was bare bones and used as a base camp it wasn't a "resort." His dad's company owned it, out of Chicago and only used it 1-2 weeks a year. The bank's name for sure was the "State Bank of Melville" but this old town could have a different name.

If anyone has any clues as to where this is, we would greatly appreciate hearing from you. Thank you!
 
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I've never heard of Melville, SD and all searches have come up empty for me. There is a little spot in the road called Rauville which is a few miles north of Watertown, might that be the place? I've been by Rauville which is on old Hwy. 81 and there's not much if anything there. Mabye an old grain elevator.
 
Try Doug Converse at Dakota Dreamin' Hunting Lodge in Arlington. He's been around awhile and may know where you are talking about. The other place to check is Kones Korner in Castlewood. They've been selling guns just south of Watertown for years and may be helpful.
 
Dakotazeb--thanks for the good info, but he swears it isn't Rauville....sounded like a good lead to me!

Kukkuk--I looked up Doug, and unfortunately found his obituary. :( All company contact numbers are disconected. Kones's email link doesn't work, so I'll call them Thursday. Thank you for the good leads!!

I just updated the post to include Willow Lake in the "search" area...
 
I sure wish I could help but there is absolutely no record that I can find of a Melville, SD. Is your father 100% certain that is the correct name as I can't find anything even close to that? If he's sure it was in the Watertown area I would maybe try contacting the local Chamber of Commerce and see it they can help.

There are a lot of little towns in SD that are no longer around and if it was a "ghost town" 50 years ago it's likely non-existent today. But even so, by doing a web search something should still show up. Perhaps some state government agency in Pierre could help? Good luck.
 
springerjohn said:
www.oldbanklodge.com/
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Nice try but I know that's not it. This lodge has only been around for in the bank building in Leola for a few years. That was an active bank until a year or two ago. In fact I use to examine that bank back in the late 70's and early 80's when I was a bank examiner with the FDIC.
 
Dakotazeb said:
Nice try but I know that's not it. This lodge has only been around for in the bank building in Leola for a few years. That was an active bank until a year or two ago. In fact I use to examine that bank back in the late 70's and early 80's when I was a bank examiner with the FDIC.
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Bank Examiner?? You and I have something in common:cheers::cheers:!
 
After my time as a bank examiner I was in bank management for 26 years. Retired 3 years ago as president of a $400MM bank with 5 offices across SD. I hated those damn examiners!! Glad I'm basically out of banking today although I am on the board of a smaller community bank now.
 
Dakotazeb said:
After my time as a bank examiner I was in bank management for 26 years. Retired 3 years ago as president of a $400MM bank with 5 offices across SD. I hated those damn examiners!! Glad I'm basically out of banking today although I am on the board of a smaller community bank now.
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Believe it or not, but you and I are somewhat close to each other. Maybe someday we could get together and hunt sometime and swap stories!:cheers:
 
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