Miller House Added to Nat’l Registry of Historic Places

Six more South Dakota properties were recently added to the National Register of Historic Places, according to the South Dakota State Historical Society.

The listed properties include the McWhorter House in Miller.

After medical school in 1904, Dr. Port McWhorter returned to his hometown of Miller and joined the local medical practice of Dr. W.H. Lane. He helped build the foundation of what would become one of Miller’s most enduring medical practices.

In 1906 McWhorter married a local woman, Helen Waters. That same year they had a Queen Anne-style house built for them at 426 N. Broadway. The first floor of the house was McWhorter’s clinic.

McWhorter served the town for 22 years. He and Helen continued to own their house in Miller after moving to California in 1926. In 1938, they donated it to the Miller Independent School District. It was used to board rural children attending school. The house served other needs of the district for many years before being converted into a museum.

The house is listed on the National Register for Health/Medicine and Education and also for Architecture.

The Arthur and Ellen Colgan House in Edgemont, the Happy Times Carousel in Faulkton, the First Presbyterian Church in Flandreau, the American Legion Community Hall in Fort Pierre, and the Stadum-Green House in Sioux Falls.

The National Register is the official federal list of properties identified as important in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, and culture. The State Historic Preservation Office of the State Historical Society works in conjunction with the National Park Service, which oversees the National Register program, to list the properties.