What’s in a name? For Sturgis, it’s been a lot. While Sturgis was named after Col. Samuel Sturgis, who was the commandant at Fort Meade from 1879 to 1881, many would call it Scooptown in its early years. The name Scooptown was taken from an earlier settlement near Bear ButteRead More →
What’s the best thing about waking up? It’s probably not Folgers in your cup, but the jingle is catchy. Its iconic, and really sums up America’s love of coffee; the quintessential morning beverage. But it wasn’t always that way. Once upon a time, tea was the drink of choice. WhileRead More →
Sturgis was the obvious site for a new county seat when Meade County was created. It was the largest city in the area, they were the ones who fought hardest for the new county, and for years before the county was official, they had operated as if they truly wereRead More →
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 →