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Historic place

The Journey Museum & Learning Center

222 New York Street, Rapid City, SD

A 1997 museum built to house four merged collections shares its grounds with the oldest surviving building in the Black Hills — an 1876 pioneer log cabin whose owner sold it directly to Rapid City's founder.

📅 1997–present🏛️ MuseumStill hereBuilt 1997
Open on the mapSlide back to 1997
The Journey Museum & Learning Center, 222 New York Street, Rapid City, SD
The Journey Museum, Rapid City · Charles G. Haacker, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The story

The Journey Museum was dedicated in 1997 to unite four institutions under one roof: the School of Mines' geology collection, the state Archeological Research Center's material, the Minnilusa Historical Association's pioneer collection, and the ~5,500-piece Sioux Indian Museum. On its grounds sits the Pap Madison Cabin, built in 1876 (the year Rapid City was founded) by settler Rufus "Pap" Madison, who sold it in 1889 directly to John Brennan, the city's founder. The cabin was relocated to the museum grounds in 2012 — a move that got it delisted from the National Register in 2017 for compromising its integrity.

Everything that was here

Did you know?

It isn't one collection but a 1997 merger of four separate institutions.
The Pap Madison Cabin is considered the oldest surviving Euro-American building in the Black Hills.
The cabin was delisted from the National Register in 2017 because its 2012 relocation compromised its integrity.

Connected places

Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF)

Lead, SD
Black Hills

Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway

Spearfish, SD
Black Hills

Roughlock Falls

Savoy, SD
Black Hills

Galena (silver camp)

Deadwood, SD
Black Hills

Nemo (Homestake timber camp)

Nemo, SD
Black Hills

Explore the full web of connections on the map.

Nearby history

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512 Main Street · 842 m away
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Firehouse Brewing Co.

610 Main Street · 930 m away
South Dakota's first brewpub poured its first pint inside a 1915 fire hall that served Rapid City's fire department unti

Elks Theatre

512 6th Street · 938 m away
A 1911 Elks Lodge meeting hall-turned-movie palace sat flood-damaged and vacant for two years, then reopened to reveal a

Duhamel Trading Post

522 6th Street · 943 m away
A Canadian-born saddle maker's hardware store grew into the largest saddle supplier in the United States and a legendary

Hotel Alex Johnson

523 6th Street · 1.0 km away
A railroad executive's Tudor-Revival skyscraper hotel broke ground one day before work started on Mount Rushmore, and it

Art Alley

Alley between 6th & 7th St (Main to St Joseph) · 1.0 km away
What began as unsanctioned canvases hung on downtown brick walls in the early 2000s grew into a permit-managed, constant

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Sourceshttps://www.journeymuseum.org/about-us