‘Local Lou’ brings passion for history in sharing little-known facts about Sioux Falls area

Lori Kent has never come across a historical marker that she wouldn’t stop and read.

That means her knowledge of the area extends to lesser-known tales about past sensations such as the Sioux sea serpent. The monster snake, estimated to be 20 feet long and a foot thick, made a fleeting appearance in the Big Sioux River in 1887, then plunged underwater, never to be seen again.

Its notoriety lives on in a historical marker that stands on 41st Street west of Riverview Avenue. Kent has visited that marker and dozens of others dotted around the Sioux Falls area.

She also has taken others along on her journey through weekly appearances on Dakota News Now newscasts and through a podcast she started. Known as “Local Lou,” Kent said her goal is to share her passion for history with others, particularly with longtime residents who may not realize that stories are all around them.

So deeply does Kent believe in her mission that she does the podcasts and the televised segments even though she describes herself as “shy and private.” Praise from the host of the South Dakota State Historical Society’s “History 605” podcast, Ben Jones, which airs on South Dakota Public Radio, has eased some of her doubts.

“I honestly feel that I’m just not that smart,” Kent said. “If you don’t know a lot about Sioux Falls history, you will think I am magical; if you know a lot about it, I feel scared you are listening. When Dr. Ben Jones said nice things about it when I was on his podcast, I was like, OK, that eases some of my anxiety. But I still feel kind of scared.”

Count Rick Lingberg, president of the Minnehaha County Historical Society board of directors, among Local Lou’s fans. They met several years ago when Kent attended one of the group’s meetings. As many organizations do, the Historical Society’s membership skews older, so Kent stood out. Lingberg met with her over coffee to learn more.

“At that time, she had a blog she was doing on historical markers. I said, our historical markers? She said, yes. I said, why aren’t we promoting that? She said, I don’t know. I said, we will be. Someone out spreading the word on something we were doing — it deserved our support,” Lingberg recalled.

The Minnehaha County Historical Society oversees the county’s historical markers program and has placed more than 600 of them at sites where history-making events occurred. Lingberg, who also edits the MCHS newsletter, asked Kent to contribute a monthly column. When Kent told him she had been asked to lead Dakota News Now’s Thursday piece on local history, Lingberg was elated.

“She’s so articulate,” he said. “I told the board, do you know what we’d have to pay to get a two-and-a-half-minute piece on regional stations? She did it so well, they asked her to expand it to five minutes. It’s great for her, and we’re kind of a fortunate byproduct.”

Another podcaster also appreciates Kent’s work. Natasha, who asked that her last name not be used, and Kent swapped appearances on each other’s podcasts several times before they met in person. She is the host of “Talking with Tasha.”

“It’s interesting to me that she is such a history buff,” said Natasha, whose own podcast often but not exclusively focuses on pop culture such as movies and television shows. “A lot of things we do align. She tries to do stories about women or the people you might not know about. I like that she brings those stories to light.”

Natasha had read the historical marker near the Old Courthouse Museum detailing the hanging death of Thomas Egan, who later was proved to be innocent of murder. Kent’s research delved deeper, Natasha said.

“She takes it that extra step. She’ll hang out at cemeteries and talk to greenskeepers. She does the work, so we don’t have to,” Natasha said. “She talked about the Women’s Alliance and how it started because there weren’t any public restrooms for women. That blew my mind.”

Born in Maryland, Kent has lived in Iowa, South Dakota and Texas. She returned to Sioux Falls about 2000 after a sibling’s husband died, and Kent moved here for support.

An executive assistant, Kent both lives and works in downtown Sioux Falls. The COVID pandemic prompted her to start her deep dive into history. Recently divorced, Kent found herself mentally, emotionally and physically wearing a mask, she said.

A three-year relationship with a man who died two years ago helped bring her out of that. He was the one who convinced her she belonged in the downtown core, and she began seeking out information about her surroundings.

“There are so many building that I don’t understand the history of,” Kent said. The building that houses the bar Wileys “used to be owned by someone with that last name but with another L. I want to know what happened, why did they lose the L? The things I understand about downtown, I get that by walking around, looking at the buildings.”

Lifetime residents of a location can develop a blindness about their surroundings, Kent said. Her goal is to help open their eyes to the history around them.

Her first blogs started sharing some of Canton’s history, the old ski hill, the asylum for Native Americans who authorities deemed insane and the founding of Augustana Academy, now a university in Sioux Falls.

Kent describes her podcast as a “COVID project.” Traveling to view historical markers gave her an excuse to be outdoors; researching more of a site’s history meant she needed to reach out to others.

“It helped me understand the history on these markers is sometimes only part of the story,” Kent said. “Sometimes in somebody’s narrative of a story, things are missing, or things are not talked about.”

Historical markers are expensive and often need sponsorships to be affordable. Kent has a running list of people like Louisa Mitchell that she would like to see honored if a sponsor can be found. The Black woman moved to Sioux Falls in 1906 and opened both a beauty salon and beauty school, served on the YWCA board and was a community activist.

“I would love to see more markers where you see a Girl Scout troop or a youth group getting excited about a piece of history and working with the Historical Society to get a marker,” Kent said.

Kent’s website offers access to three dozen podcasts and about 50 blog posts for a subscription. She doesn’t release new posts on a regular schedule since she has other demands on her time and is still in a mourning period. She is looking into grants that would help her increase the pace.

“I do them in my spare time,” Kent said. “All of it is just me, researching it, recording it, editing it, putting it on social — that’s all me, but I have my job, and I like to say I have a life.”

The TV segments are different, Kent said. She finds it much easier to talk about history for three to five minutes every week, offering viewers an “easy, breezy” history lesson.

True-crime episodes are popular, but Kent doesn’t want to make that her niche. She wants her history lessons to be more general, even if it requires researching more unfamiliar topics.

True-crime podcasts require an intensive amount of work, Natasha agreed. She enjoys Kent’s current format, and when Kent appears on Natasha’s podcast, she allows Kent to “steer the ship. She tells me a story, and then I react. She does put in a lot of work, and I do give her credit. For her, because she enjoys it so much, it doesn’t feel like work.”

The women occasionally share their personal lives with those listening. Both women talk about the grief they have experienced and how to get through life.

“She’s easy to talk to as well as listen to,” Natasha said.

The Historical Society currently is collaborating with the Daughters of the American Revolution Mary Chilton Chapter and other groups to prepare a historical marker on Nellie Zabel Willhite, the first licensed female pilot in South Dakota. Kent’s files include an article on the hearing-impaired pilot, who flew with Amelia Earhart.

Kent sometimes coordinates her columns on historical markers with the Historical Society’s upcoming September-through-May presentations, Lingberg said. Kent was born gifted with the skills she needs, and she brings passion and enthusiasm to her pieces, he said.

“Not everyone is gifted with curiosity, and I think she has a pretty high level,” Lingberg said. “If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be doing what she does.”

Kent dreams of inspiring others to turn their interests into podcasts, columns, books, artwork — whatever appeals to them.

“They just need to take something they’re geeking out over and start talking about it,” she said. “I still get shy and apprehensive when I tell people (about ‘Local Lou’) or they ask me about it out in the wild. But I hope people maybe get inspired to look into their own local history.”