Historic House Burned in South Dakota

Fire gutted a historic building in Oacoma, S.D. and officials believe the blaze was the work of an arsonist.

The Lower Brule Agency House was extensively damaged and 26-year-old Gabriel Willrodt of Chamberlain was apparently arrested within a couple of hours.

Oficials said Willrodt was charged with second-degree arson.

The house, built in 1876, was on the National Register of Historic Places and also was known as the “M.Q. Sharpe House.”

Sharpe, who once owned the building, was the 17th governor of South Dakota and was instrumental in getting the dams built that formed Lake Sharpe and other Missouri River reservoirs.

Source: The Daily Republic.