Celebration honors 1874 flag

All evidence of the frontier town of Medary, once prosperous a few miles south of Brookings, is gone except for the homemade American flag that first flew during the town's second Fourth of July observance in 1874.

The flag is now in a display called "The South Dakota Experience" in the state museum at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre.

"It is probably the oldest American flag ever flown in what is now South Dakota," said David Hartley, director of the state museum.