A blast from the past – William Roddle, Coe Crawford and Samuel Elrod

Pat Powers

I’ve had these campaign ribbons tucked away for a while, but I finally took a little time over lunch to try to get them displayed:

The campaign ribbon at the top left is for Republican William H. Roddle, who served as South Dakota’s third Secretary of State from 1897-1901. Coe Crawford, a former Governor, ran for and served in the US Senate from 1909-1915. Samuel Elrod, was the fifth Governor of South Dakota from Clark, and ran for Congress in 1898, but was defeated for the Republican nomination by Charles Burke.

Otherwise, on the bottom are Republican State Convention Ribbons for 1890 (2nd state GOP convention), 1891, 1894 and 1898.

The political ribbons are a little scarce as the textiles used in their production were not known for their longevity. But when you can find them, they’re a fun piece of South Dakota political history.

2 thoughts on “A blast from the past – William Roddle, Coe Crawford and Samuel Elrod”

    1. I keep an eye out for them, but avoid paying crazy prices. Such as someone advertising a “Huron for State Capital” ribbon on eBay for $125. That’s about $75-100 more than I’d pay!

      There are a number of political item collectors on facebook, and elsewhere.

      Probably my favorite items are a ribbon for the state’s constitutional convention in 1889, and a ribbon for the “Harrison and Morton Club” of “Deadwood, Dakota” from 1892.

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