Maj. John A. Pickler Homestead

Maj. John A. Pickler Homestead, also known as the Pickler Project, is a historic house; listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973; located in city of Faulkton, South Dakota; home of Major Pickler, an influential person in the transition of South Dakota from territory to statehood in 1889, elected to four terms of the U.S. Congress; wife Alice Pickler was involved in the Women's Suffrage movement

Faulkton, SD; John and Alice Pickler home on the south edge of Faulkton is a prairie Victorian home featuring 20 rooms in three stories; Construction began in 1882 when Major Pickler, a Civil War veteran, built his claim shanty on his pre-emption near the Nixon River of Faulk County, Dakota Territory; no architect for the construction of this prairie mansion, which was built in stages and completed by 1894; home was used to host many visiting dignitaries including Susan B. Anthony, who stayed with them in 1890, and Teddy Roosevelt.

The Pickler Mansion, the historic home of Major John A. and Alice Pickler in Faulkton South Dakota, has been a Faulk County landmark for well over 130 years; construction began maybe 1882, maybe a couple years later; “Pink Castle” began as a claim shanty and grew more grandiose in parallel with the Picklers’ prosperity; By the 1890’s it had become a sprawling, eccentric Victorian mansion; Faulkton artist Charles T. Greener is credited with the signature pink that bursts against the big blue Faulk County sky; Pickler home housed many prominent guests in South Dakota, including Theodore Roosevelt, Susan B. Anthony and Grover Cleveland; Alice and John Pickler were both pioneers in the women’s suffragist movement; Pickler Mansion was abandoned for nearly thirty years, beginning in 1955; despite being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, was lapsing into disrepair by the 1980’s; The Pickler's granddaughter - (the late) Lois Bull gave us the house [in 1987], and the papers to Pierre, because we are not an archives; original purpose was to find a letter from Susan B. Anthony to the Picklers. We found 15 letters in total from Susan B. Anthony. Not all were to the Picklers. Some were written to the South Dakota Suffrage Association, of which Mrs. Pickler was the secretary.”; Mansion still retains in its collections a book signed by Susan B. Anthony, among many other artifacts; cataloguing of the Picklers’ correspondence soon turned into a larger project when the Historical society found a virtual time capsule inside the house. Much care has been taken to preserve the contents of the house as an authentic representation of the Picklers' times; Restoration is still a work in progress, funded in part by summer tours