Huron College was founded in 1883 as Presbyterian University of South Dakota and located in Pierre. The City of Pierre agreed to furnish 20 acres of land and $13,000, if buildings worth $30,000 would be constructed by July 1884. The College opened in late September 1883 with three students. The first college catalog was published in 1884, listing board at $2.46 per week and tuition at $30 for preparatory students and $45 for college rank students. In 1887, Frank Farrar (not Gov. Fararr) received the first degree conferred by the college. Farrar was Seattle’s superintendent of schools for many years.
By 1897, support for the school was failing and the Presbyterian Synod moved the college to Huron. John and Mamie Pyle, other residents of Huron and a $5,000 gift led the effort to bring the college to Huron. In 1898, the school opened in the Royal Hotel with 79 Normal and Academy students and three of college age. In June 1906, the cornerstone of the main building was laid.*
Between 1980 and 2001 Huron College had changed hands four times. The last owner of the college was Si Tanka University—Huron, chartered by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Si Tanka was the first off reservation university controlled by a Native American tribe.
The Huron campus officially closed in 2005 and in 2008 the city of Huron took control of the University arena and the Fine Arts Center. In 2011, the campus was razed to make Central Park and a new swimming pool complex. (1996:020:0001) *Daily Plainsman, 24 June 1930, page 23