Some of the following text is my words, but most are the words of Brian Flindt, a fourth generation native of Manchester, South Dakota. I didn’t think I could do any better than him. Manchester was a small unincorporated community located on US Highway 14, in Kingsbury County, in the east-central part of the state of South Dakota. On June 24, 2003, the town was completely annihilated by a large F4-rated tornado, and has since become a ghost town.

In the latter part of the 19th century, Manchester was just another small prairie town, made up of farmers and merchants.The homes and buildings left in town were a cherished remnant of what the town once had been. Manchester, like so many prairie towns, began in the early 1880’s and was somewhat self-contained out of necessity. Manchester was the center of life for many neighboring farms as well as the people who lived in the town. A rich social life and healthy business community existed at Manchester, too. There were general stores, groceries, a bank, a pool hall, a livery stable, a lumber yard, a blacksmith shop/garage, two gas stations, two grain elevators, restaurants, an egg-buying station, a hotel and a town hall; not to mention two churches and a school. As transportation and the roads improved by the 1920’s, Manchester began to diminish and neighboring towns increasingly drew business and the town’s population away

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The state’s territorial centennial was celebrated with a festival located near Manchester’s southwest border and over 150,000 people came to celebrate, which set the record as the state’s largest crowd at the time. Clint Eastwood, then a young actor, was there signing autographs and promoting his western television series, “Rawhide”.

Another record event would not take place at Manchester until June 24, 2003, when the tornado engulfed the remaining citizens and their property. the national record for 67 tornadoes in one state in 24 hours was tied. Incidentally, the path the tornado took went right over the field where this festival was held.

Though the town of Manchester was leveled, perhaps a new chapter in the town’s history is beginning, this one based on tornadic research. Now many stormchasers will hold vivid memories of Manchester and the immediate area and they, along with historically-rooted people, will be connected to a “virtual” Manchester.

MANCHESTER TODAY