Old Main Apartments

Come enjoy small town living in historic Old Main Apartments located in Canton, SD. Old Main is close to schools, parks, pool, library, hospital, restaurants and shopping. History of Old Main: The Old Main building was designed by Omeyer and Thori of St. Paul, MN. It is an excellent example of Richardson Romanesque architecture with its massive scale, rough-cut quartzite, and arched openings. Ground was broken on the property in Canton, SD, in the late summer of 1901 with the actual construction not beginning until 1902. The Old Main housed classrooms, offices, 25 dormitory rooms, and a chapel that would seat approximately 500 people. Total cost of the structure, with furnishings, was $48,592.99. Old Main housed Augustana, which had moved to Canton, SD in 1884. Distinguished alumni included novelist Ole E. Rolvaag, physicist Merle A. Tuve, and South Dakota governors Sigurd Anderson and Archie Gubbrud. In 1917 Augustana College and the Lutheran Normal School merged in Sioux Falls, and closed the Canton campus. In 1919 the facility was reopened as Canton Lutheran Normal School, which later became Augustana Academy, operating as a boarding high school. The Augustana Academy Association was formed in 1932 and assumed control of the school until its closing in 1971. After closing in 1971, Old Main remained vacant until a total renovation of the building was completed in 1995 by the Metro Plains Corporation of St. Paul, making it into housing, In the fall of 2013 the property was purchased by PEPD, LLC. The current owners have done extensive renovation and made many improvements to the property.