South Dakota Capitol statue project stalls amid silence from Governor’s Office

Noem's office tight-lipped about status of Capitol Freedom Project and over $100K raised since 2020

(Austin Goss/The Dakota Scout)

PIERRE — Plans hatched amid civil unrest in 2020 to erect sculptures of four U.S. presidents around the South Dakota Capitol Dome appear to have stalled.

Four years after Gov. Kristi Noem launched what she called the South Dakota Capitol Freedom Project, the placement of 10-foot-tall statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt within exterior alcoves of the state Capitol hasn’t happened.

A state-led fundraising initiative associated with the project continues to fall well short of anticipated costs.

NEWS: Brown County Sheriff gives wife new job as work-from-home jail detention officer