Pierre is the capital of South Dakota, and its name is pronounced like the English word “peer.”
Pierre lies on the eastern bank of the Missouri River in central South Dakota. The city was named for Pierre Chouteau Jr., a prominent American fur trader and entrepreneur connected with the region’s nineteenth-century trading networks. Its French spelling often causes visitors to pronounce it as “pee-AIR,” but the established English pronunciation is “peer.”
Pierre became South Dakota’s capital when the Dakota Territory was divided and South Dakota entered the Union in 1889. Its central location helped support the choice, even though it is much smaller than Sioux Falls, the state’s largest city.
The capital is also associated with the nearby Lake Oahe reservoir, one of the large reservoirs created along the Missouri River by the Oahe Dam. Pierre should not be confused with Fort Pierre, a separate city across the river named for the same historical figure.