- [Narrator] In the fall of 2020, the city of Sioux Falls wanted to do something about a piece of city park property.

An old farmhouse in Tuthill Park had been slowly falling into disrepair and the city wasn't keen on spending the money it would take to fix everything.

What happened next provides an example of what can happen when a group of people with a common cause take action.

(soft music) Tuthill Park is on the south side of Sioux Falls.

Its northern boundary is the big Sioux River.

To the south are the private homes of the Tuthill Crestview and newer growing neighborhoods.

The park land was part of a land claim filed by a Scottish immigrant named William Howie in 1874.

That's not especially early as Dakota Territorial homesteads go, but it's very early for lands around Sioux Falls.

The entire area was an army post from 1865 until 1869.

The thousands of acres of the Fort Dakota reserve weren't available for homesteading until after the Fort was closed.

That makes William Howie a true Sioux Falls pioneer.

- Absolutely.

One of the earliest settlers in this area.

Really no one inside that military reservation would have had any land before 1869.

So he would have been one of the very earliest in Sioux Falls township.

- [Narrator] Howie built a house on the land, but it's not clear today if it's this house.

- We don't know for sure when the house was built.

We know that he settled on that land in 1874.

Senator Pettigrew has a hand-drawn plat map of all of Minnehaha County, and he indicated houses.

So there's certainly a house on that land by the 1880s.

We don't know whether it's this house or not.

- [Narrator] What is certain about the house is that Arthur Tuthill and his wife owned it between 1915 and 1953.

Tuthill and his two brothers owned a Lumber company on 8th street in downtown Sioux Falls.

He had a house in town, and he was prosperous enough to own a summer house just outside of town with a big garden and a splendid view of the Sioux River.

- When Arthur Tuthill purchases the house in 1915, he is the fourth owner.

William Howie dies in 1907, he would have been the first owner.

So the house has to be built sometime between the 1870s and 1907.

My guess would be it's built sometime in the 1880s, 1890s.

It certainly could have been a dugout or a log cabin that would have been incorporated into this house.

We also don't know if the house was all built at once or if it was possibly built in different stages.

So Arthur Tuthill and his wife purchased it at 1915 and used it as their summer home until 1953, when they donated the first 40 acres of land to the city of Sioux Falls.

- [Narrator] The Tuthill's gift to the city came with a few strings attached.

- [Adam] They do mention they'd like continued improvements to the park, there's to be no alcohol consumed in the park, there can be eventually a band shell.

They kind of mentioned that a couple of times.

They mentioned they'd like to keep the delphiniums, which were in the kind of formal gardens that Mrs. Tuthill had near the house.

- [Narrator] Tuthill Park officially opened in 1956.

- Then for several years, beginning in 1953, park caretakers and their families live in the home.

So when it went from being a residence for park superintendents and caretakers to being kind of an event venue that it's been for the last several years.

- [Narrator] Nobody's lived in the house full-time since 1993.

Some say the city hasn't done enough to maintain the house since then.

By one estimate, it would take around $250,000 to fix it all up now.

The city balked at the price and started the process of listing the house as surplus, which would eventually have led to demolition.

But cities have to hold hearings when they propose something like this.

And When the news came out, people spoke up.

The City Board of Historic Preservation got involved.

- We kind of discussed our board meeting that we felt the house should be saved.

And then we started working with other concerned neighbors who also wanted to save the house.

I think some neighbors had wanted to save it, and some were looking to have it removed.

They felt like it had been neglected and was a safety concern and an eyesore.

And I think we felt like those things could be remedied.

We think the house could be restored to be a nice-looking house and beneficial to the park.

And the safety concerns we think can be dealt with in a number of ways, whether that be lighting, security systems, et cetera.

- [Narrator] The Sioux falls city council would have the final say, but not before hearing public input.

Those against tearing the house down outnumbered those in favor, and they began to raise money.

- By that time, we also had benefactors coming forward.

So we can actually say it isn't just our idea, it's a huge group of citizens, including people who are willing to put their money on the line to make sure that this is not demolished.

So the park board just let the process evolve and that's the way they had to do it.

And it worked in our favor.

So then we had citizens calling us.

How can we support this?

I wanna make a donation.

And that's how it's gone.

And it was meant to be, it was the right thing to do.

- [Narrator] They helped to raise enough money to do all the repairs.

- [Kathy] The basic commitment was to have the outdoor siding redone and the roof and the windows.

And then we're looking at, next would be the wiring.

And our wishlist includes, of course, the interior restoring that we wanna restore the hardwood floors, we wanna make the kitchen a little more functional.

- [Narrator] And so on down the list.

When it's all done.

- We're doing this and then gifting it to the city, all of our repairs.

And we're trying to work on a program for ongoing maintenance.

- [Narrator] The city will still be on the hook for maintaining the house years from now, but proponents believe that the facility will pay for itself if it's managed properly.

- My dream is for years to come, families continue to make memories here.

And I'd also like more information to tell the story of this park.

And that's our plan to put some historical markers or something out there so that people really know about the generosity of the Tuthill family, that's why hundreds, thousands of families enjoy this park every summer.

It's the generosity of two benefactors, who had the vision to see what this could be.

(soft music) - [Narrator] To learn more about the Tuthill Park House and efforts to save it, visit the Tuthill Park House restoration group's Facebook page.

To keep track of Sioux Falls City Council and other City hearings, visit the city's official Web site at siouxfalls.org.

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