Human Services Center, Historic psychiatric facility in Yankton, South Dakota.
The Human Services Center is a hospital in Yankton made up of several buildings with different architectural styles. The structures show features of neoclassical, Art Deco, and Italianate design scattered across the medical campus.
The facility started in 1879 as Dakota Hospital for the Insane and changed its name to Yankton State Hospital in 1918. This shift reflected new thinking about mental health and how patients should be treated.
The Mead Cultural Education Center inside tells the story of how mental health care developed in South Dakota over more than a century. You can see how medical ideas and hospital practices changed as time went on.
The complex still works as an active hospital with different medical departments, so not all areas are open to visitors. It is best to ask ahead about visiting rules and which areas you can see.
The site made it onto two important lists: the National Register of Historic Places and America's Most Endangered Historic Places. This recognition shows the buildings are architecturally valuable but also at risk.
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