Edwin A. Sherman, born on June 19, 1844, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, graduated from Wayland High School at sixteen. He initially pursued agriculture before moving to Boston, where he became a partner in Capen, Sherman & Company. Health issues led him to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1873. There, Sherman became a key figure in the city’s development, notably contributing to education, business, and infrastructure. He built the first brick building in Sioux Falls and helped establish the Cascade Milling Company and local banking institutions. He married Florence L. Cowdrey in 1873, and after her death, married Catherine Elwell in 1901.
Edwin A. Sherman was born in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, on the 19th of June, 1844, and he was there reared and educated, having been graduated from the high school at Wayland, Massachusetts, when sixteen years of age. During the ensuing four years, he was engaged in agricultural pursuits, and upon attaining his majority he went to the city of Boston, where he secured a position as clerk in an oil commission house. Two years later he was admitted to partnership in the enterprise, under the firm name of Capen, Sherman & Company, but his health became so impaired that he retired from the firm four years later and came to the west. During the first winter, he was engaged in teaching school near Sioux City, Iowa, and in June, 1873, he came to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a city with whose progress and material upbuilding he was destined to become most prominently identified, and in which he has consecutively maintained his home. His initial business venture here was to purchase a half interest in the Independent, a newspaper published by C. W. McDonald, and he was actively identified with the publication of the same for the ensuing eighteen months, when he sold his interest in the business to T. J. White. From 1874 to 1876, inclusive, Mr. Sherman held the office of superintendent of schools of Minnehaha County, organizing within this time a large number of districts and doing much to forward the cause of education in his jurisdiction. Concerning his subsequent labors and efforts, we are pleased to quote from a previously published review of his career: “Since his arrival in Sioux Falls Mr. Sherman has been one of the most active, enterprising, and successful business men of the city. He built the first brick building in the city, in 1875, this being the third building on Phillips avenue south of the Edminson-Jameson block. John Bippus was then postmaster and the post office was located on Phillips avenue north, and Mr. Sherman put up this new building with the understanding that the post office should be removed to the same when completed, an arrangement which was duly carried out. In 1877 he purchased what is now the Cascade milling property, comprising five acres of ground. In this enterprise Isaac Emerson and J. G. Botsford were associated with him, and they built the stone dam and the Cascade mill, Mr. Botsford afterward selling his interest to George E. Wheeler. In 1887 the electric light works were added to the business and the Cascade Milling Company was incorporated with a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but the ownership of the property is practically unchanged. This manufacturing establishment has been in operation for more than a quarter of a century and has been prosperous from the beginning. In fact, in this respect it challenges comparison with any manufacturing concern in the state. Mr. Sherman has engaged quite extensively in the building of residences as well as business blocks. In 1878 he erected a stone building on the southeast corner of Main avenue and Ninth street, and he also built all the buildings east to the alley on Ninth street as well as all the buildings south of Main avenue, except the Schaetzel building, at the south end. The stone building mentioned was rented, before it was built, to the county, to be used for county offices and a court room. In 1883 Mr. Sherman erected the building which was occupied as the post office until May 18, 1895, and this also was built for the county. The Cascade block was erected by him, and also the Union Trust Company block; and a few years ago he built a very fine and attractive residence on block 1, Sherman’s addition to Sioux Falls, this fine division of the city having been platted by him. He was instrumental in securing the location of the state school for deaf mutes in Sioux Falls, engineering the bill through the legislature, and he gave to the institution five acres of land, upon which the buildings of the institution are located. He was one of the first trustees of this school and president of the board. Mr. Sherman effected the organization of the Minnehaha National Bank in 1886, being its first president and holding this office two years. In 1887 he organized the Union Trust Company, and in the following year resigned the presidency of the Minnehaha National Bank to devote his attention to the business of the Union Trust Company, which soon afterward transferred its banking business to the Union National Bank, of both of which companies he was at all times president. In 1887 he became associated with John M. Spicer, of Willmar, under the direction of James J. Hill, of the Great Northern Railroad Company, and undertook the project of building the Willmar & Sioux Falls Railroad. Together these two gentlemen located, named, and platted all the towns along this line, a distance of one hundred and forty-nine miles. Mr. Sherman has a large interest in the Willmar & Sioux Falls Townsite Company, incorporated. Although engrossed in such extensive business transactions as the above record indicates, Mr. Sherman has found time to perform such official duties as have been assigned to him by the people, who have manifested a signal appreciation of his ability and sterling manhood. He was territorial treasurer in 1877-8 and territorial auditor in 1879-80, being tendered the latter office in 1881 but declining the same. When Sioux Falls became incorporated as a village, he was elected one of its first trustees, while he has frequently served as a member of the board of education. The success of his business enterprises, his fidelity to official duties, his constant zeal in promoting the growth of the city, all stamp him as one of the most reliable and progressive citizens in the state, while he commands the unequivocal confidence and esteem of all who know him personally or through business or official association.”
Mr. Sherman has ever been found staunchly arrayed in the ranks of the Republican party, in whose cause he has shown a lively interest, and his religious faith is indicated in his holding membership in the Congregational church.
On the 15th of September 1873, Mr. Sherman was united in marriage to Miss Florence L. Cowdrey, of Melrose, Massachusetts, whose death occurred on the 1st of February 1890. She is survived by two daughters, Jessie L., who is a graduate of Wellesley College, and Mabel F., both of whom remain at the paternal home. On the 9th of June 1901, Sherman was married to Miss Catherine Elwell, of London, England, and they have one son, Philip F.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.