The story
The Roundup began in 1918 as the "Tri-State Roundup," organized to raise money for Red Cross relief during World War I. The inaugural event drew an estimated 15,000 to a town of about 1,410 residents and raised nearly $20,000. There were no chutes and barely enough fencing; cowboys used rough techniques like biting a horse's ear to control it. The war ended that November, but the event's popularity kept it going as an annual Fourth of July tradition and a sanctioned professional rodeo.
Everything that was here
- 1918–present · still open
Black Hills RoundupRodeo
A one-off 1918 fundraiser for Red Cross war relief, held in a fenceless pasture with no chutes, drew 15,000 spectators to a town of barely 1,400 — and became one of the oldest continuously running outdoor rodeos in America.
See the map in 1919 →
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Connected places
Rand Tower Hotel
German Insurance Company Building
Nashville Union Station
McSorley's Old Ale House
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Nearby history
Geographic Center of the Nation Monument
Matthews Opera House
Spearfish Historic Commercial District
Black Hills Passion Play
The Thoen Stone
D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery
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