The story
The Adams Museum was founded in 1930 by businessman and former mayor W.E. Adams, who gifted it to the City of Deadwood; it remains city property, now run under Deadwood History, Inc. alongside the separate Historic Adams House. Built to preserve gold-rush artifacts and stories, it has grown into one of the most respected small Western-history museums in the region, ranking #3 on True West Magazine's 2009 list of the top Western museums.
Everything that was here
- 1930–present · still open
Adams MuseumMuseum
A Deadwood businessman gave the town its first museum in 1930 — and it's still city property nearly a century later.
See the map in 1931 →
Did you know?
It has been owned by the City of Deadwood since W.E. Adams gifted it in 1930.
It ranked #3 in True West Magazine's 2009 Top 10 Western museums.
It's a separate institution from the Historic Adams House, though founded by the same man.
Connected places
Historic Franklin Hotel
Deadwood, SD
Deadwood
The Midnight Star
Deadwood, SD
Deadwood
Rochford (mining town)
Hill City, SD
Deadwood
Cheyenne Crossing Stage Stop
Lead, SD
Deadwood
Explore the full web of connections on the map.
Nearby history
The Midnight Star
677 Main St · 112 m away
Kevin Costner turned a historic Deadwood building into his own casino after falling in love with the Black Hills filming
Deadwood Main Street Historic District
Historic Main Street · 125 m away
A gold-rush boomtown, gutted twice by fire and left to fade, saved itself in 1989 by legalizing the very vice — gambling
Old Style Saloon No. 10
657 Main St · 151 m away
"The only museum in the world with a bar" — and it's NOT where Wild Bill was shot, though it has spent 90 years happy to
Historic Franklin Hotel
700 Main St · 197 m away
Deadwood's first grand hotel opened in 1903 with an elevator, electric lights, and telephones — and hosted two future pr
Homestake Slime Plant (Deadwood Mountain Grand)
1906 Deadwood Mountain Drive · 208 m away
A gold-processing plant built with Douglas fir beams railed in from Washington State ran until 1973, then sat as a count
Bullock Hotel
633 Main Street · 226 m away
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