Could the Gina Smith Campbell Bathhouse at City Park in Dell Rapids see preserving and restoring updates?  It could according to Dell Rapids Mayor Tom Earley.

Mayor Earley gave an update to the Dell Rapids City Council during their regular meeting on Monday, July 3rd, about a meeting he had with South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard and Linda Daugaard.  The Daugaards and Mayor Earley met earlier in the day on July 3rd.  It was indicated to Mayor Earley that the Duagaards have some interest in providing support to preserve and/or partially restore the bathhouse.  Some of the ideas that were reported to the council were to put together a working group to assess the building and provide some basic options that could make the facility usable again.  To help on costs of a project like this, the hope is that some of the people in the working group might be able to donate materials and do in-kind-service work on the building.  Funding for some of this type of work could come money provided by the city, monetary or work-in-kind donations from interested community members, and potentially a matching donation by Governor Daugaard.  The facility should also be eligible for grant dollars given out by the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission’s Outside of Deadwood Grant Program.   Application deadlines for those grant dollars are January 2nd, 2018, and June 2nd, 2018.

The Gina Smith Campbell Bathhouse was dedicated on July 4th, 1934 after being built by the Dell Rapids Park Board and the Dell Rapids City Council in coordination with the Civil Works Administration.  The bathhouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 10th, 1986.

The ideas of projects to restore and preserve the bathhouse are in the very early stages of talks.  However, there does seem to be interest in making the bathhouse usable again.