History of Sioux Falls, South Dakota facts for kids

Sioux Falls is the biggest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota. It was started in 1856, then left empty, attacked, and later rebuilt. By 2010, it had grown to have over 153,000 people.

Ancient Times and Early Explorers

A burial mound in upper Sherman Park

The story of Sioux Falls is all about the amazing waterfalls on the Big Sioux River. These falls were made about 14,000 years ago. That's when the last big ice sheet melted and changed the river's path. The melting water carved out the hard, pink rock called Sioux quartzite. This rock is super old, about 1.5 billion years! It formed from sand and mud at the bottom of an ancient, shallow sea.

The waterfalls have always been a special place. People who lived here before 500 B.C. built many burial mounds on the high hills near the river. Later, farming communities built strong villages in the same spots. Around the 1700s, the Lakota and Dakota tribes arrived. They were nomadic hunters who followed bison. Old maps show they met with French fur traders at the falls. These traders were likely the first Europeans to see the falls.

The 1800s

First Visitors to the Falls

The beautiful falls also caught the eye of early explorers. In August 1804, the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition wrote about the "Soues River" falls in their journal. Later, in 1838, explorer John C. Frémont and French scientist Joseph Nicollet also described the falls. While they wrote about them, it's not clear if they actually visited the falls themselves.

The first person known to have definitely visited was Philander Prescott. He was an explorer, trader, and trapper who camped there in December 1832. In 1844, Captain James Allen led a military trip from Fort Des Moines. These early descriptions of the falls were published in a book in 1856. This book made people want to claim land around the falls.

Starting and Rebuilding the City

In the mid-1850s, people were very interested in buying land in Minnesota and Iowa. Their attention soon turned to the Big Sioux River valley. Sioux Falls was started by land speculators. These were people who bought land hoping its value would go up a lot. They wanted to claim the best spots before railroads and settlers arrived.

Two groups, the Dakota Land Company from St. Paul and the Western Town Company from Dubuque, Iowa, formed in 1856. They wanted to claim the land around the falls. The falls were seen as a great spot because of their beauty and water power. The Western Town Company arrived first, followed by the St. Paul company in 1857. Each group claimed about 320 acres. They worked together to protect themselves. They built a temporary wall of dirt and called it "Fort Sod." This was because Native American tribes were threatening them. Seventeen men spent the first winter in Sioux Falls. The next year, the population grew to almost 40 people.

There weren't many fights between Native Americans and white settlers in Minnehaha County. However, the Dakota War of 1862 broke out in nearby southwestern Minnesota. The town was emptied in August of that year. This happened after two local settlers were killed because of the conflict. The settlers and soldiers here went to Yankton in late August 1862. The empty town was then robbed and burned.

In May 1865, Fort Dakota was set up. It was a military base in what is now downtown Sioux Falls. Many former settlers slowly came back, and new settlers arrived in the following years. By 1873, the population grew to 593 people. That year, many new buildings were constructed.

Becoming a City and Growing Fast

The Village of Sioux Falls, covering about 1,200 acres, officially became a village in 1876. This was done by the government of the Dakota Territory in Yankton. But the village rules were too strict. So, Sioux Falls asked to become a city. The Dakota Territorial government made it a city on March 3, 1883.

When the railroads arrived, it started the "Great Dakota Boom" in the 1880s. The population of Sioux Falls exploded from 2,164 people in 1880 to 10,167 by the end of the decade. This growth completely changed the city. But a bad grasshopper problem and a national economic downturn stopped the boom by the early 1890s. The city only grew by 89 people from 1890 to 1900.

The "Divorce Capital"

Starting in the 1880s, a law said you only had to live in Dakota Territory for 90 days to get a divorce. Also, local judges weren't very strict about what people said in court. Because of this, news spread across the United States that it was easy to get a legal divorce here. So, both Sioux Falls and Fargo became known as "divorce capitals." Thousands of people came to these towns to get a divorce. During this time, the number of divorces in Minnehaha County was almost three times the national average. Many local people didn't like this reputation. But the rush of "tourists" meant new hotels and restaurants had to be built. This also brought a lot of attention to the city, which was unusual for a town its size. After South Dakota became a state, divorce laws became stricter. This "divorce capital" period ended by the early 1900s.

The 1900s

Panoramic view of Sioux Falls in 1907, looking east to south. The Old Minnehaha County Courthouse can be seen at the center right, and the Queen Bee Mill can be seen at the extreme left.

Sioux Falls grew at a steady pace in the early and middle 1900s. This was thanks to a few things. The John Morrell meat-packing plant opened in 1909. An airbase and a military radio training school were built in 1942. Also, the interstate highways were finished in the early 1960s. During this time, the city's economy mostly depended on the stockyards and the meat packing industry. Sioux Falls had one of the biggest stockyards in the country. The John Morrell plant was by far the largest employer in the city.

Starting in the late 1900s, Sioux Falls began to grow much faster. The economy changed to be more about services. News spread about how few people were unemployed and how low crime was. The city often added nearby land from Minnehaha County. The first time land south of 57th Street was added from Lincoln County was in 1969 for a water tower. More land was added from Lincoln County in 1978 for new neighborhoods.

Several big shopping malls opened in the 1970s. The retail and dining businesses started to become a bigger part of the city's economy. In 1981, Citibank moved its credit card operations from New York to Sioux Falls. They did this to use new state laws that were easier on interest rates. Several other financial companies also moved to Sioux Falls or grew their businesses there. This is why the city has a large banking and financial industry today. A third reason for recent growth is the expansion of the local healthcare industry. The two biggest hospitals, Sanford Health and Avera Health, are now the city's two largest employers.

Images for kids

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  Map of Sioux Falls in 1920