On June 23, 2016 the new Bluff Historic District was added to the National Register for Historic Sites. The district contains structures located on Oak Place and Court, Kidder, Church and Bloomingdale Streets. This area consists of some of the oldest houses built Vermillion, most following the flood of 1881. Structures were constructed from 1868-1957. Prominent home owners included Elias H. Willey an early publisher of the Dakota Republican newspaper, Andrew Erikson Lee, prominent Vermillion resident and Governor of South Dakota (1897-1901), and Charles E. Prentis, a businessman with Lee and landowner in Clay County.

The Bluff Historic District in Vermillion joins three other districts: the University Historic District (placed on the National Registry in 1975), the Forest Avenue Historic District (placed on the National Registry in 1979), and the Downtown Vermillion District (placed on the National Registry in 2003). More detail about the historic and architectural characteristics of individual contributing and non-contributing structures constituting the new Bluff Historic District can be found in the “National Registry Registration Form” in the publications section.

Other historic sites in Clay County on the National Register are described in detail in a Clay County Historic Preservation Commission booklet (please see publications section) entitled “Guide to the National Register of Historic Places in Clay County, SD”