The story
Custer State Park was established in 1919. In 1914 managers bought 36 bison to found a herd; within three decades it had exploded past 2,500, prompting the annual Buffalo Roundup held every fall since 1966. The State Game Lodge, built in 1920, became the literal seat of government when Coolidge used it as the "Summer White House" from June to September 1927, running the country while fishing the nearby streams. Today the 18-mile Wildlife Loop Road is where most visitors meet the free-roaming bison, pronghorn, elk, and famous "begging burros."
Everything that was here
- 1919–present · still open
Custer State Park & State Game LodgeState Park
President Calvin Coolidge ran the country from a rustic Black Hills lodge for three months in 1927, sleeping a stone's throw from a bison herd that started with just 36 animals in 1914 and now roams free along an 18-mile loop road.
See the map in 1920 →
Did you know?
Connected places
Princess Theatre
Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF)
Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway
Roughlock Falls
Galena (silver camp)
Explore the full web of connections on the map.
Nearby history
Spokane (ghost town)
Iron Mountain Road
Gordon Stockade
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Holy Terror Mine
Needles Highway
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