Pierre, South Dakota
Pierre (/pɪər/ PEER) is the capital city of the U.S. state of South Dakota and the seat of Hughes County.[5] The population was 14,091 at the 2020 census, making it the 2nd least populous US state capital after Montpelier, Vermont. It is South Dakota's 9th most populous city. Founded in 1880 on the Missouri River near the center of South Dakota, it was selected as the state capital when the territory was admitted as a state. Pierre is the principal city of the Pierre Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Hughes and Stanley counties.
Education[edit]
The Pierre School District, the school district covering the city,[20] oversees three elementary schools, a middle school and a high school, T. F. Riggs High School. St. Joseph, is a private Catholic elementary school. It is administered by the local parish and the Diocese of Sioux Falls. Other schools include For His Glory and the Pierre Indian Learning Center (a tribal school affiliated with the Bureau of Indian Education).
Infrastructure[edit]
Transportation[edit]
Public transit is provided by River Cities Public Transit.
Pierre Regional Airport is served by one commercial airline.
Although in the center of the state, Pierre is one of only four state capitals not served by an Interstate highway (along with Dover, Delaware, Jefferson City, Missouri, and Juneau, Alaska). It is the only one that is not served by any expressways.[21] The nearest Interstate highway is Interstate 90, about 34 mi (55 km) south of Pierre via the four-lane U.S. Highway 83.[22]
The Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad runs east–west through the city. The railroad crosses the Missouri River on the Chicago and North Western Railroad Bridge.
In popular culture[edit]
In 2015, in honor of the 80th anniversary of the "Monopoly" board game, Hasbro held an online vote to determine which cities should be included in an updated version of the "Here and Now: The US Edition" of the game. The top "Boardwalk" spot went to an unexpected contender: Pierre. It received the most votes, beating New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston.[24][25] The outcome may have been influenced by the image that accompanied the name of the city in the balloting: the well-known Mount Rushmore, which is 150 miles west of Pierre, in Keystone and the Black Hills section of the state.[26]
