Lake County, South Dakota, was named for its beautiful lakes. It had been the realm of the Dacotah (Sioux) Indians with few white intruders until the Yankton tribe ceded it in 1858. In 1857 the Nobles Trail was built across its northeast corner, and that year Mrs. Wm. Marble, a captive of Inkepaduta’s renegade Indian band, was rescued at Lake Herman by two Christian Indians. The county was created in 1873 from parts of Brookings, Minnehaha, and Hanson Counties and was organized on October 6th with Herman N. Luce and John T. Hare as commissioners. Settlement began in 1870 when Wm. Lee, John Walker, and Herman N. Luce arrived and built the Lee log cabin, its first edifice. Soon Madison, named for Madison, Wis., and Herman, named for Luce, grew up on the shores of Lakes Madison and Herman, respectively. By 1880 its population was 2,657, and the coming of the railroad that year shifted the county seat from Old Madison to Madison, laid out by C.B. Kennedy on July 6th 1880. The first train arrived on January 12, 1881. The Swiss Colony at Badus was founded in 1878, Wentworth in 1880, Winifred in 1882, and Ramona in 1887. Madison State Normal was established in 1881, with classes starting in 1883. Its present name, General Beadle State College, honors its president W.H.H. Beadle, who served from 1889 to 1906 and was known as the Savior of School Lands. From 1890 to 1932, Lake Madison Chautauqua brought culture and entertainment to thousands from a wide area.