13places
13businesses
1878oldest
12still open
1gone
11with photos
Rapid City on When It Was is 13 addresses and the 13 businesses that have occupied them, the oldest from 1878. 12 are still open today; 1 are gone. Every entry below opens a page with the full history of that address, and the map lets you slide the year and watch the city change.
Start here
Canyon Lake Dam & the 1972 Rapid City Flood
Canyon Lake Park, Canyon Lake Drive · 1972–present
On the night of June 9, 1972, a debris-clogged dam above downtown Rapid City gave way and sent a wall of water through the city, killing 238…
Duhamel Trading Post
522 6th Street · 1907–1985
A Canadian-born saddle maker's hardware store grew into the largest saddle supplier in the United States and a legendary Native American tra…
Elks Theatre
512 6th Street · 1911–present
A 1911 Elks Lodge meeting hall-turned-movie palace sat flood-damaged and vacant for two years, then reopened to reveal a hidden 1929 barrel …
Firehouse Brewing Co.
610 Main Street · 1915–present
South Dakota's first brewpub poured its first pint inside a 1915 fire hall that served Rapid City's fire department until the 1972 flood for…
Hotel Alex Johnson
523 6th Street · 1928–present
A railroad executive's Tudor-Revival skyscraper hotel broke ground one day before work started on Mount Rushmore, and its Room 812 still kee…
The Journey Museum & Learning Center
222 New York Street · 1997–present
A 1997 museum built to house four merged collections shares its grounds with the oldest surviving building in the Black Hills — an 1876 pion…
Art Alley
Alley between 6th & 7th St (Main to St Joseph) · 2003–present
What began as unsanctioned canvases hung on downtown brick walls in the early 2000s grew into a permit-managed, constantly-repainted open-ai…
Chapel in the Hills
3788 Chapel Lane · 1969–present
An exact hand-carved replica of Norway's 850-year-old Borgund stave church, built in the Black Hills in 1969 as the on-site home of a nation…
Rapid City, decade by decade
- 1870s
- 1890s
- 1900s
- 1910s
- 1920s
- 1930s
- 1950s
- 1960s
- 1970s
- 1990s
- 2000s
Still here, and gone
Still open (12)
- West Boulevard Historic District 1878–present
- Rapid City Indian School (now Oyate Health Center) 1898–present
- Elks Theatre 1911–present
- Firehouse Brewing Co. 1915–present
- Hotel Alex Johnson 1928–present
- Dinosaur Park 1936–present
- Storybook Island 1959–present
- Chapel in the Hills 1969–present
- Canyon Lake Dam & the 1972 Rapid City Flood 1972–present
- The Journey Museum & Learning Center 1997–present
- Main Street Square & the City of Presidents 2000–present
- Art Alley 2003–present
Gone (1)
- Duhamel Trading Post 1907–1985
By kind of place
Park (2)
Dinosaur Park · Storybook Island
Historic Site (2)
Canyon Lake Dam & the 1972 Rapid City Flood · Rapid City Indian School (now Oyate Health Center)
Hotel (1)
Theatre (1)
Brewery (1)
Public Art (1)
Public Plaza (1)
Main Street Square & the City of Presidents
Chapel (1)
Collections that cover Rapid City
Every place in Rapid City (13)
- Art Alley Alley between 6th & 7th St (Main to St Joseph) · 2003–present
- Canyon Lake Dam & the 1972 Rapid City Flood Canyon Lake Park, Canyon Lake Drive · 1972–present
- Chapel in the Hills 3788 Chapel Lane · 1969–present
- Dinosaur Park 940 Skyline Dr · 1936–present
- Duhamel Trading Post 522 6th Street · 1907–1985
- Elks Theatre 512 6th Street · 1911–present
- Firehouse Brewing Co. 610 Main Street · 1915–present
- Hotel Alex Johnson 523 6th Street · 1928–present
- Main Street Square & the City of Presidents 512 Main Street · 2000–present
- Rapid City Indian School (now Oyate Health Center) 3200 Canyon Lake Drive · 1898–present
- Storybook Island 1301 Sheridan Lake Road · 1959–present
- The Journey Museum & Learning Center 222 New York Street · 1997–present
- West Boulevard Historic District 803 West Boulevard · 1878–present
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