Regardless of his party affiliation, Peter retained his prominence in the new state. Eight years after statehood, William McKinley became the first president to visit South Dakota. On October 14, 1898, McKinley was greeted by 20,000 people in Aberdeen.
While the purpose of his visit was to thank the soldiers of the first infantry for defeating the Phillipine resurrection in Manila, he also took the opportunity to tour both Dakotas. While in Congress, McKinley had advocated for statehood for the Dakotas. As noted in the “The Daily Argus Leader,” Yanktonians were determined to make a memorable impression.
All Yankton people are enthusiastically joining hands in the effort to get up a record breaking welcome and jollification in honor of President McKinley’s visit Saturday evening. The big mass meeting on Wednesday night has resulted in the work being systematized and now the work is going smoothly.
The Yankton Mayor appointed fifty people from Yankton and the vicinity (in 1900, the population was 4,125) to be part of the reception committee. Peter Huber, who was 61 years old, was one of two representatives from Jamesville chosen to welcome McKinley.
Robinson and Kingsbury
Doane Robinson and George Kingsbury were Yanktonians who were involved in organizing the Yankton welcome. Both men would go on to write detailed histories of South Dakota – it is nearly impossible to read an account of that time that does not cite either.
Doane’s profiles of Peter’s sons, Joseph (m. Rothmeyer) and Frank (m. Strunk) in The History of South Dakota have been repeatedly hand copied (without attribution so we thought it was family lore) by various Huber generations.
Doane likely knew the Huber family. It is surprising that he did not profile Peter as well, especially considering that he wrote about Peter extensively in Joseph’s profile. Doane’ s work, The History of South Dakota, was published in 1904, just one year before Peter’s death.
Robinson, 1856-1946, was a lawyer who became the South Dakota State Historian. In that role, inspired by Georgia’s stone carvings of Civil War figures in a mountain side and seeking to increase tourism, he conceived the idea of Mt. Rushmore. Sadly, President Calvin Coolidge refused to appoint him to the committee which oversaw the development of the monument. After his retirement, he returned to farming.