To the most astute observer, the 620th Engineer General Service Company may have appeared a bit odd. From afar, they appeared like any other Army unit. But they didn’t wear the right color fatigues. Instead, they wore the obsolete pre-war blue denim fatigue uniform. A uniform that was also wornRead More →
In 1877, an act of Congress opened up the Black Hills to white settlement. Prior to that, the region had been off limit, or at least it was meant to be that way. The United States Government had made some attempts to keep non-Indians out of the Hills, but theRead More →
On November 2, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison admitted North and South Dakota as states to the Union. Which state came first isn’t known, as the President wanted it to be a mystery. If legend holds true, not even the President knew which one he admitted first. But if the citizensRead More →
In 1848, in a small hamlet in New York, two young girls would help begin a movement that would eventually burn through the country. For them, it was just a prank on their mother, a prank that quickly got away from them. That movement was spiritualism. As the Black HillsRead More →
In December of 1885, May Howard was arrested and fined for being an inmate of a house of ill-fame in Rapid City, SD. It wasn’t the first time she would be arrested for, as the local paper stated, flaunting her shame in the face of decency, but it would beRead More →
As with many western cities that looked to emulate the “civilized” cities of the east, Sturgis was excited to build their own streetcar line. They were the Key City of the Black Hills, a county seat, and thus an important destination. Obviously, they should showcase that importance by having theirRead More →
Possibly the best-known streetcar line in the Black Hills belongs to Deadwood. While the line wouldn’t receive the same recognition that the line in Rapid City did, it would retain its history, partially because of the town’s dedication to their past. The Deadwood Street Railway would be incorporated in AugustRead More →
The west may have been won on the back of a horse, but it grew upon streetcar lines. Or at least some would argue such. When it came to civilizing the west, the streetcar played an important role, as it allowed towns to expand by making them more interconnected. ItRead More →
With Meade County finally being organized in March of 1889, the fight for the county seat was now on. Throughout the journey of becoming a county, many who looked at the situation assumed it would be Sturgis who would take the title. Others had different plans though. A few contendersRead More →
In 1889, Meade separated from Lawrence County. One could argue it was more of a formality, as the citizens of Sturgis, and the larger area, had already separated themselves from the rest of Lawrence County. In many ways, Meade had begun as a rogue county; a county set on changingRead More →