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Historic place

Whitewood Historic District

1005 Meade St, Whitewood, SD

A town literally built by a railroad's decision to stop — for about three years, Whitewood was the end of the line, and everything headed deeper into the Black Hills had to pass through it.

📅 1887–present🏛️ Historic DistrictStill hereBuilt 1887
Open on the mapSlide back to 1887
Whitewood Historic District, 1005 Meade St, Whitewood, SD
Whitewood, South Dakota (2014) · Jerry Huddleston from Hampton, Minnesota, US, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The story

In 1887 the Pioneer Townsite Company platted the town along Whitewood Creek; it incorporated in 1888. The Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad reached it around November 1887 — the first line into the northern Black Hills from the east — and auctioned the first lots on Thanksgiving Day 1887. For about three years Whitewood was the terminus, forcing all traffic bound for Deadwood, Lead, and Belle Fourche to transfer there; nearby Crook City became a ghost town as a result. A 1904 building boom used local sandstone; three of those buildings survive as the NRHP-listed Whitewood Historic District (2007).

Everything that was here

Did you know?

The first lots were sold at public auction on Thanksgiving Day 1887.
Whitewood was the end of the rail line for about three years, forcing all Black Hills traffic through town.
Neighboring Crook City lost its residents and buildings to Whitewood and became a ghost town.

Connected places

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Keystone, SD
Black Hills

Needles Highway

Custer, SD
Black Hills

Sylvan Lake

Custer, SD
Black Hills

Custer State Park & State Game Lodge

Custer, SD
Black Hills

Explore the full web of connections on the map.

Nearby history

Tatanka: Story of the Bison

100 Tatanka Drive · 9.4 km away
Kevin Costner built it after filming "Dances with Wolves" — and then spent over a decade in a legal fight with the sculp

Jackpine Gypsies Racing Grounds

1216 Short Track Rd · 10.1 km away
The entire Sturgis Motorcycle Rally started as a side effect of a dirt-track race at this one small track — organized by

Days of '76 Museum & Rodeo

18 Seventy Six Drive · 10.4 km away
A century-old rodeo modeled on Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, held in a town famous for a poker hand — now ranked among

One-Eyed Jack's Saloon

1304 Main St · 11.2 km away
Billed as the largest bar on Main Street, One-Eyed Jack's became such valuable rally real estate that it reportedly sold

Wing Tsue Bazaar

566 Main St · 11.2 km away
For nearly 45 years a pair of brick buildings on Lower Main held the heart of Deadwood's Chinatown — the shop, home, and

The Knuckle Saloon & Brewing Co.

931 1st St · 11.4 km away
The Knuckle Saloon occupies an entire downtown block that its own history says once belonged to Col. Samuel D. Sturgis —

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Sourceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewood,_South_Dakota