About Dr. William and Elizabeth Blackburn House
Historic Architecture, Architecture, Interesting Places, Other Buildings And Structures
The Dr. William and Elizabeth Blackburn House is an historic two-story wooden house located at 219 South Tyler Avenue in Pierre, South Dakota. Designed in the Stick or Eastlake style of Queen Anne style architecture, it was built in 1883 by local banker and real estate speculator, H. O. Fishback. In 1887, it was bought by the Rev. Dr. William Maxwell Blackburn and his wife, Elizabeth Powell Blackburn, who had come to Pierre from Grand Forks, North Dakota, where he had been president of the University of North Dakota. Dr. Blackburn, a Presbyterian minister, scholar and author became the founding president of the Presbyterian University of Southern Dakota, which later became Pierre University and served as such until his death in 1898. Following his death, Pierre University was relocated to Huron, where it became Huron University. Later owners include C. B. Billinghurst, local newspaper publisher, and Harold King and his wife Irma E. King. The Kings ran a grocery store and he was a local politician while she was a poet.
