Bison added to historic Lawrence County ranch

Schoolhouse on the Frawley Ranch in Centennial Valley.

Hank Frawley's grandfather was the first lawyer in Deadwood. He moved his grandpa's law library into the main barn where I did the interior finish in 2003 at the family ranch across from the Centennial Quarry.

The Frawley Ranch has been an integral part of the history of the Black Hills since the Frawley Brothers began buying up failed homesteads in the Centennial Valley in the 1890s. In 1977 the nearly 5,000-acre property became only the second National Historic site in South Dakota. There’s even a section of the original Deadwood Stage Route running through the property. In the early 2000s, two families with a deep appreciation for South Dakota’s western heritage purchased the land and have been restoring and maintaining it as a sort of living historical preserve. [Meet the Frawley Ranch bison]

One of the last Democratic politicians in Lawrence County Hank died in 2017.