History:

Yankton College, the first institution of higher learning in Dakota Territory was founded in 1881 by Dr. Joseph Ward, a graduate of the prestigious Phillips Academy, Brown University and the Andover Theological Seminary. He came as a missionary pastor to the Yankton Congregational Church and went on to organize the Yankton Academy in 1872, acknowledged in its day as the Territory's most advanced educational institution. The Academy eventually became Yankton's public high school. In 1881, Ward established his dream, a Christian institution of higher learning, Yankton College.

Although the enrollment at YC was never large, the main tradition at Yankton College was to provide a quality liberal arts education which produced distinguished leadership and a desire to accomplish great things in many young men and women from around the nation and the world.

Among the distinctions of Yankton College are the Conservatory of Music, the School of Ministry, the astronomical Clark Observatory, the first outdoor Garden Terrace Theater, several Rhodes Scholars, influential faculty and a record breaking athletic program. Scholars and educators; lawyers and doctors; musicians and artists; athletes and theologians, emerged from here and went on to lead successful lives filled with responsibility and wisdom. The history of the institution on the Hill spanned 103 years where a standard for excellence, life-long friends and lasting memories were created.

Yankton College still matters in the hearts and minds of many: students, alumni, teachers, trustees, administration and friends. The campus has been closed for more than twenty-five years but the legacy continues on!

Dr. Jospeh Ward, 1884, Inaugural Address: "What can be nobler than to found an institution that, by the simple force of its daily life, shall go out among the young and call each one to a higher life than he could have found without it!"