A little corner of Black Hills history got some recognition recently. The 80-year-old barn at the State Soldiers Home in Hot Springs — one of South Dakota’s great historic towns — has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The barn sits on the western edge of the Michael J. Fitzmaurice South Dakota Veterans Home, which is on a hilltop west of downtown Hot Springs. (It’s easy to confuse it with the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital on hilltop east of downtown.)

Built in 1929, the stone-and-wood structure is an example of a Gothic Arch barn, which is somewhat rare in South Dakota, according to the nomination from the South Dakota Historic Preservation Office. Most barns in the state were gambrel roof or gabled roof designs.

“Common elements of the Gothic Arch barn include multiple windows on the long sides of the barn, a large hay door on the second floor of the barn, and the distinctive arch roof,” Preservation Officer Chris Nelson wrote in the nomination.

He also had some history of the South Dakota Veterans Home, created by the Dakota Territorial Legislature in 1889 shortly before statehood. The Dakota Soldiers’ Home was established to provide care and subsistence for military veterans, their wives and their widows. This was long before the VA, Social Security, Medicare and other modern safety nets. If old soldiers had no place to go, they went to Hot Springs.

The State Home staff tried to be self-sufficient, growing as much food as possible on the grounds.  They raised pigs, chickens, vegetables and other foods. The State Home also had a dairy herd of 25 cows at least until 1953, when the home began buying milk. Sometime after that, the herd was sold and the barn was used for storage. It still is.

By the looks of the photo accompanying the nomination, the old barn could use a good coat of paint, but it’s otherwise intact. (I’ve seen a lot of barns in South Dakota that look a lot worse.)