Listen

Description

Small towns are where everyone knows each others business but happens when bad blood turns into a cold blooded murder?


Platted by Benjamin Richards in 1888 naming the townsite after his sons Benjamin and Clarence the small town of Ben Clare was meant to be a spot where farmers could get supplies and ship crops on the railroad without going all the way to Sioux Falls. The townsite however gets sold to Frank Bowen and it's all downhill from there.

Beware this episode contains newspaper accounts of a murder.

Links to some of the research, please note newspaper articles that are referenced in the episode can be found LocalLouPodcast.com or you can search for them on Newspapers.com

Wayne’s article A TOWN NAMED BEN CLARE - Issuu 

The church Ben Clare United Methodist Church - Valley Springs, SD - Find-A-Church (umc.org) 

Ben Clare on Map Minnehaha County Map - East, Atlas: Minnehaha County 1917, South Dakota Historical Map (historicmapworks.com) 

Historical Marker Ben Clare Historical Marker (hmdb.org) 

Frank Bowen Graesite Frank J Bowen (1863-1903) - Find a Grave Memorial 

American Negligence Reports Curent Series 1912 American Negligence Reports, Current Series ... - Google Books 

Railway Conductor Monthly 1905 Railway Conductors' Monthly - Google Books 

https://history.sd.gov/museum/docs/Immigrants.pdf