The 1918 influenza pandemic affected 28% of American citizens, killing an estimated 675,000 Americans. While most cities in the United States didn’t publish names of victims of the flu, there were usually mandatory bans on public gatherings where the flu was most likely to spread. De Smet, South Dakota, was one town which forbade public gatherings once the flu had been reported nearby.
October 11, 1918, the Kingsbury County Board of Public Health closed all schools and public meeting places, including churches and assembly halls. “The influenza has become epidemic in this city and vicinity, and it is deemed necessary for the protection of our people to prohibit assemblages until danger is passed. The doctor reports about one hundred cases in this vicinity, most of them mild, but a few are serious. The history of the disease it that as it progresses those stricken have it harder, and the community that gets by without deaths is indeed fortunate. Hence it is urged that people do not travel except when absolutely necessary, and that they stay at home unless obliged to go about. Children should be kept off the street and as far as possible in their own yards. While a general quarantine has not been ordered, the effect of the closing order is lost if there is not effort to keep away from possible exposure. Let us keep the order in good spirit and assist in stamping out this disease that is proving so fatal in the east, especially at the training camps.”
Young Aubrey Sherwood, for many years editor of the De Smet News, was one of the De Smet men who was a victim of the flu. Maud Loftus, daughter of De Smet store owner Dan Loftus, died from the disease. Ella Boast died of pneumonia following a ten-day illness during the epidemic, but her death was not attributed to the flu.
