J.W. Parmley

Joseph William Lincoln Parmley (January 12, 1861 – December 12, 1940) was an American pioneer and early developer of the north central region of South Dakota during its early statehood. He is considered the "Father of the Yellowstone Trail," and is today memorialized by the J. W. Parmley Historical Home and Parmley Western Land Office museums in Ipswich, South Dakota.

Life and family Joseph William Lincoln Parmley was born January 12, 1861, in Mifflin, Wisconsin to parents originally from Durham County, England. His father was also named Joseph Parmley. His mother, Jane Ashton Parmley, died when he was seventeen. He had a brother, John Pearson Parmley, and a sister, Sarah Tamar Parmley. In Wisconsin, he attended school at Platteview Normal in Platteville, and also Lawrence College at Appleton.

On October 13, 1887, he married Melissa Baker, who was also of English descent and grew up in Wisconsin. They had three children: Loren, Irene, and Bernice, who died before she was two of scarlet fever. J. W. Parmley died on December 12, 1940.

Pioneer of Edmunds County, South Dakota In spring 1883 J. W. Parmley, aged 22 years and fresh out of college, arrived at Aberdeen, which was the end of the railroad line in what was then Dakota Territory. After walking 40 miles further west, he and two other pioneers who arrived at the same time staked out claims at the center of what would become Edmunds County, South Dakota. The pioneers named their settlement "Roscoe," after noted senator Roscoe Conkling, and built a large tent. This tent, which they named the Cottonade Hotel (J. W. Parmley was the cook), served to attract later pioneers travelling through the country on their way to further west settlements along the Missouri River: Le Beau, Rugstad, and Mobridge. The county was officially organized in summer 1883 as "a great wave of settlement spread over the east half of the county … The prairie was often barren as it had been burned off. [The settlers] had to buy their supplies in Aberdeen, a three day trip."

County and state official Parmley's first taste of public life came immediately once Edmunds County was organized and the territorial superintendent, General William Henry Harrison Beadle, appointed him superintendent of schools. Parmley met many settlers while making visits to every school scattered across the county, and "his personable character and educational background were quickly recognized." This burgeoning network may have led to his political ambitions. He also eventually served Edmunds County as Register of Deeds, County Clerk, and County Judge.

J. W. Parmley passed the South Dakota bar examination in 1887, was twice elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives in 1905 and 1907, and ran for U.S. Congress as a Republican but was ultimately beaten by the popular incumbent from Aberdeen, Royal Johnson. He was nominated to various state commissions, boards, or representative positions by seven different governors, including his post as South Dakota Highway Commissioner in 1925 and a nomination to the Board of Regents in 1933.

Economic developer Parmley was passionate about road building, and this makes up a large part of his legacy. He is still known today as the "Father of the Yellowstone Trail."

In 1905, Parmley purchased his first car, and his grandson Joe Trotzig later recalled, "He always had at least two cars during his prosperous years." In 1907, his first attempt at road policy was undertaken with a bill in the state legislature to have road work named the responsibility of county commissioners, but the bill was literally laughed at by other legislators, and defeated. Nonetheless, J. W. Parmley and other area businessmen felt the need for a good road between Ipswich, SD and Aberdeen to spur economic development. In 1910, Parmley organized a caravan to travel from Aberdeen to Mobridge - rough country with hills and sloughs. But from that first path, Parmley expanded the idea farther to encompass the entire region between Minneapolis and Yellowstone Park, then ultimately "a good road from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound."

The first conference to organize the Yellowstone Trail was held in 1912, and Parmley was elected president of the Yellowstone Trail Association. The association members, community leaders from towns all across Minnesota and South Dakota and later other states as well, acted to advocate tax dollars for road infrastructure and encourage motorists, who were a new breed in America at that time, to go through their towns on their way to Yellowstone Park. By 1916, the trail had its slogan and J. W. Parmley was among those who physically stenciled its markers - a yellow circle with a black arrow pointing the way - on rocks and utility poles along the track used by motorists. It was America's first coast to coast highway though the upper tier of states, and the roads that carried the Yellowstone Trail now carry many route markings, including, in places U.S. Highway 10 and 12, interstate 90 and 94 and many others. The final segment of this highway was hard surfaced in 1950.

Parmley also made a less successful effort to create a "Canada to Coast" highway from The Pas, Manitoba to the Panama Canal. For this effort, he was named the president of the C to C Highway Association, and, while the highway itself never came to fruition, his activities as a booster in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota later brought about the International Peace Garden. At the farm, Parmley kept a large herd of Shetland ponies, which were a novelty to other residents, and which were unforgettable to children who grew up in the era between 1903 and 1940 in Ipswich, South Dakota. The ponies were purchased on the advice of a doctor who though they would get the Parmleys' son Loren outside to improve his croup and asthma. But they were also used as cart ponies for Melissa ... and as great political tools. As the herd of ponies expanded, J. W. would lend one to any country child that promised to ride it to school and take good care of it.

Legacy Parmley was named to the South Dakota Highway Hall of Fame in 1972 and the South Dakota Cowboy and Western Heritage Hall of Fame in 1981.