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Sioux Falls history
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It was first used to carry supplies from the Missouri River to the settlers in the Sioux Falls area in the late 1850's.
Pioneers first staked claims on the banks of the Big Sioux River prior to the Civil War in 1856.
Sioux Indians occupied the area when the town site, which was named for the falls of the river, was founded in 1857 by land speculators.
Following are notable events from Augustana's history since 1860.
In 1861, five graduates of the Seminary were ordained on June 9, thus the first "commencement."
In 1862, the Seminary closed early so that President Esbjorn could return to Sweden to raise money for the school.
In 1862 the conflict between the Sioux and the settlers in southwestern Minnesota spilled over into Sioux Falls, and the town was abandoned and burned.
In 1865, the school receives its official charter as Augustana College and Theological Seminary.
Sioux Falls, city, seat (1868) of Minnehaha county, southeastern South Dakota, United States It lies on the Big Sioux River, near the Iowa and Minnesota state lines.
From 1871 the present town of Sioux Falls has had a very steady and constant growth, and here begins the following detailed history:
West Sioux Falls, by John McClellan, January 5,1872.
On June 5, 1872, pastors and delegates from nine Baptist churches in the Dakota Territory met in Vermillion for the first meeting of the Baptist Association.
During the winter of 1874, the brewery was built by Messrs.
East Sioux Falls, by I. Emerson, December 29,1875.
During the summer of 1876, a sidewalk was built from the Land Office to Van Eps' store, which was hailed by the people with delight, as a token of the coming metropolitan greatness of the town.
The year 1876, was in a measure one of disappointment to the people of Sioux Falls, as many of them had confidently expected a railroad to the town during the Centennial year.
One of those little incidents, which show more forcibly than columns of figures can, the growth of a business, was told in the fall of 1876.
David Lysnes is named fifth president in 1876 and the school is re-named Salem's Seminary and Marshall Academy.
The first election under the charter was held on the third Tuesday of March, 1877, and resulted in the election of C. K. Howard, President; J. L. Phillips, Wm Van Eps, E. A. Sherman and H. Catleader, Trustees; C. O. Natesta, Clerk, and Geo.
Phillips' Addition to East Sioux Falls, by N. E. Phillips, L. T. Dunning and R. F. Pettigrew, February 18,1878.
The bridge at Tenth street was begun in March of this year, 1878, and completed September 1st, at an expense of $2,700.00.
The arrival of the railroad in 1878 contributed greatly to population growth; today the city is headquarters of the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corporation and the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad Corporation.
Morse's Addition, by Marshall Morse, R. F. Pettigrew, L. E. Gale and A. Gale, May 30, 1879.
The Tea Public School originated in 1879 with the building of the first schoolhouse (built 1 1/2 miles west of the present edifice). There was an enrollment of 11 pupils and first teacher was Mr.
The Germania Verein Society was organized January 10th, 1880, and the building of Germania Hall began in July.
In May, 1880, a hook and ladder truck was received, which was the first public acknowledgment that the city was liable to be damaged by fire.
Peters' and Heeren's Store was built in the 1880's before the railroad went through.
Ed Wendt started a blacksmith shop in the late 1880's.
Because of westward migration and the convincing argument of Norwegian James Wahl, Commissioner of Immigration for Dakota Territory, to "move with the people," the school relocates to Beloit in northwest Iowa in 1881 and re-claims the name Augustana Seminary and Academy.
[Source: HISTORY OF Southeastern Dakota, Its Settlement and Growth, Sioux City Iowa: Western Publishing Company, 1881]
By the beginning of 1881, the railroad was hopelessly blockaded; the mails only came at intervals and provisions and fuel began to get scarce.
By the provisions of Chapter 23 of the Session Laws of 1881, (an act passed to provide for raising funds to build the penitentiary) the Board of Directors was given authority to receive this sum from the federal government.
Court action followed for two years when finally, following an out-of-court settlement, the bell arrived in Beloit in September of 1883.
Under the name Dakota Collegiate Institute, secondary and collegiate programs began on September 8, 1883, in the basement of First Baptist Church.
In 1883, the Territorial Legislature approved funding for several more buildings, including the Warden's Residence.
In 1884, the Academy — and its bell — moves to Canton, Dakota Territory and officially becomes known as Augustana College.
As the town grew, a fire company was needed and in 1885 the first hook and ladder company was created.
The institution's name changed to Sioux Falls University in 1885, with the secondary program called the Academy and the collegiate department branded Sioux Falls College.
Henry M. Solem was awarded the first Bachelor of Arts degree in 1888.
Anthony Tuve assumes presidency of Augustana at age 26 in 1890.
The Farmer's Elevator was built in the late 1890's by John and Aldrich Groeneveld, and managed by Henry Bruhn.
On September 17, 1892, Senator R.F. Pettigrew of Sioux Falls, who served as president, organized the Sioux Falls, Yankton and Southwestern Railroad.
Finally, on October 19, 1893, the regular passenger and freight service on the line began under the management of the Great Northern Railway.
Sanford, previously known as Sioux Falls Lutheran and later Sioux Valley Hospital, was the first hospital in town dating back to 1894.
In 1895, the Augustana College Association is formed to operate the College.
For clarification, all "firsts" identified are associated with Augustana College and not the Lutheran Normal School (LNS). For instance, the first band at LNS was in 1896.
A new building is built on the east side of Canton to accommodate the growth of the school and was dedicated in 1903.
The first rural route was started in 1903 and the first mail carrier was Henry Heeren.
St Nicholas Catholic Church was built in Tea in 1905-06.
At Augustana, the inaugural year of the band was 1908.
The John Morrell meat packing plant — known as Smithfield Foods today — opened in 1909, and about five years later construction began on the Sioux Falls Stockyards.
In 1910, the Augustana College Association voted to provide for freshman and sophomore college work.
Teddy Roosevelt, who frequented South Dakota to hunt bison, and famed US Marshal Seth Bullock rode a Fawick Flyer together in a 1910 parade through Sioux Falls.
Avera’s first hospital — the second in town — opened in 1911 with the help of a large donation from Helen McKennan (the same woman who’s the namesake of McKennan Park). Before the building, the Presentation Sisters — a group of Catholic nuns — were in town providing both education and health care.
After the store burned in 1911, the telephone office was located west of the bank, which later burned.
Motorized fire trucks came to Sioux Falls in 1915 with the purchase of a 1915 Seagrave pumper.
By action of the church, Augustana College in Canton merges with the Lutheran Normal School in Sioux Falls and becomes Augustana College and Normal School (ACNS) in 1918; 195 students are enrolled.
Around 1918, the Salem Presbyterian Church was built in Section 21.
Doctor Charles Orin Solberg becomes the 11nth president in 1920, determined to expand the liberal arts curriculum of the College and improve the quality of the faculty.
In the late 1920's, R.E. Schmidt opened another general store in Tea.
Buskohl also served as the community drayman.John and Tony Everwein built a garage in 1920 and later sold it to Carl Musch, who sold it to Fred Jacobs.
The Augustana Concert Choir was founded by Doctor Carl Youngdahl in 1921.
Augustana helps to create the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra in 1922.
In 1923, Miss Julia Tisthammer received the first Bachelor of Arts degree awarded by the consolidated Augustana College and Normal School.
In 1923, Dan Weis started another band with six members.
Female students petition for a credit course in physical training, and by 1923 the physical education department is established.
In the fall of 1923, a contest is held and the name 'Sioux Braves' is selected as the name for the athletic teams.
In 1925, the Augustana College Association becomes the legal entity governing Augustana College and Normal School in Sioux Falls and the Augustana Academy in Canton.
Although the college grew, the Academy's enrollment declined, forcing it to close in 1925.
In 1926, Augustana was recognized as a four-year college.
Later on, Radlingerestablished another blacksmith shop, which closed in 1929.
Dakota Hall (renamed Meredith Hall in 1929), the campus' first building, is built for $16,000.
The first night football game is played on campus, September 27, 1930.
Augustana received accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1931.
With the 1931 merger of Grand Island College with what was still legally Sioux Falls University, the institution's official name became Sioux Falls College.
In 1933, the College purchases a home for the president at the corner of 26th Street and Duluth Avenue.
In 1936, the Augustana forensics squad placed first in the nation at the Pi Kappa Delta speech tournament in Houston and the football team won their fifth straight SDIC conference championship.
Dan Weis, J.P. Olson and John Buus organizedthe first Boy Scout troop with Philip Hoel as Scoutmaster in about 1936.
The Forensic Department was given first place in the nation in accumulated records in regional and national tournaments over an eight-year period in 1939.
1941, November 1 Weather Bureau Office first starts taking observations (after office opens in September). Location is the Old Administration Building at the Sioux Falls airport.
The nursing program is developed; Lefty Olson's football teams won 10 of 11 conference championships in the SDIC; Augustana joins the North Central Conference in 1942.
The beginning of the 1942-43 academic year opened with the largest enrollment in school history, 587 students.
In the fall of 1943, Augustana became the third college in the North Central Conference to drop football, following the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State College.
1945, December 31 Weather Bureau in Sioux Falls opens.
Augustana graduated its first international student, Kari Prydz of Norway, in 1947.
Tuve Hall is built and Doctor Earl Mundt is named director of the Augustana Theater in 1950.
Awards Day was first observed in 1951; it is now known as the annual Scholarship Dinner.
In 1952 plans were started to build the diversion channel and levees.
Augustana was the first Lutheran college to offer a major in deaf education in 1953.
1955 The Weather Bureau disseminates its first Local Forecast to the public.
1956, April 18 The first radar, a WSR-1, is put into service.
Solberg Hall built in 1956.
1957, June 16-17 Biggest rainfall flood in Sioux Falls history (record stage for Skunk Creek)
Augustana ventures into educational television as Doctor Don Fryxell teaches a course in World Literature on KELO-TV in 1957.
Interstate 29 opened in 1958 and has encouraged business growth.
Morrison Commons opens in 1959 and Eleanor Roosevelt visits campus and meets with students.
1959 Diversion channel and levees in Sioux Falls are completed.
The Centennial Year celebration begins June 1, 1960.
1962, February 17-18 Biggest snowstorm in Sioux Falls history with 26.0 inches snowfall in 24 hours, contributing to the total of 48.4 inches for February, for the snowiest month on record.
Bergsaker Hall opens in 1964.
Leading up to the inauguration of Doctor Charles Balcer as the College's 16th president in 1965, architect and intellectual Buckminster Fuller, Lutheran theologian Doctor Martin Marty, and Augustana alumnus Kenneth Thompson (vice-president of the Rockefeller Foundation) lectured.
The $2 million Gilbert Science Center was dedicated in 1966.
One of the world’s first commercial nuclear power plants operated in the area during 1966–67.
The concrete statue of Ole the Viking on the south end of the Quad was created by Peter Eide '66 and dedicated at Viking Days 1967.
In fact, Time magazine featured the College's growth in 1967.
1969, April Biggest snowmelt flood (and all-time on Big Sioux River) in Sioux Falls history, followed the snowiest winter season on record with 94.7 inches total snowfall.
At the Tea interchange is the Great Plains Airport, established in 1969 under the name of Sky Haven Airport.
The College adopts a 4-1-4 academic calendar; the football stadium makes way for a new Humanities Center and the Center for Western Studies is created in 1970 with Doctor Herbert Krause as its first director.
Around this time, Weis started Tea Supply and ran it until 1970 when he retired due to poor health.
1970 The Weather Bureau is reorganized under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and becomes the National Weather Service.
1971, January 12 Office moves to 1 Weather Lane, 1 mile north of previous site.
David stands 18 feet tall near the Big Sioux River in Fawick Park, named for Thomas Fawick, the millionaire inventor and Michelangelo admirer who donated the statue to the city in 1971.
The parish continues to grow and in 1972 another addition was built, adding more seating capacity and a parish hall.
Office becomes Weather Service Forecast Office in 1972 with both public and aviation forecast responsibility for the state of South Dakota.
1975, January 10-11 Worst blizzard on record with 70 mph winds, -70 degree wind chills, 7 inches snowfall, and visibilities below a quarter mile for 24 hours.
1975, August 1 One of the heaviest official rain events for Sioux Falls with 4.59 inches measured at the airport.
In 1975, jazz great Woody Herman performs on campus.
Cleveland industrialist and Sioux Falls native Thomas Fawick presents the College with a bronze casting of Michelangelo's Moses in 1976.
Augustana welcomed its largest class since 1978 of more than 2,100 new and returning undergraduate and graduate students.
The Augustana Student Congregation becomes an official congregation of The American Lutheran Church (now ELCA) and consumer advocate Ralph Nader speaks on campus in 1979.
1979 NOAA Weather Radio is first installed for the tri-state area around Sioux Falls.
Doctor Bill Nelsen is named Augustana's 17th president in 1980.
Banking brought a dramatic economic shift when Citibank moved its operations from New York to Sioux Falls in 1980 following a loosening of the state’s usury laws under then-Gov.
1982, July 6 Worst thunderstorm downburst hits Sioux Falls in the early afternoon with up to 125 mph wind gusts causing damage and uprooting numerous large trees, mainly in south central and northeast sections of the city.
Joe Foss speaks in chapel in 1983 and broadcast entertainer Art Linkletter was a featured speaker at the Augustana Fellows 20th anniversary celebration.
Augustana celebrates its 125th anniversary during the 1985-86 academic year.
1986 April 13-14 A spring blizzard west of Sioux Falls resulted in the worst livestock losses in state history.
Doctor Sidney Rand serves for one year as the College's 18th president beginning in 1986.
1989, July 17 A small tornado hits western Sioux Falls doing extensive damage to 6 houses.
The Elmen Center opens in 1989.
The Fire Prevention as well as the Fire Chief’s offices were also moved to this location in 1989.
Another highlight in history still cited 30 years later is when Money magazine listed Sioux Falls as the best place to live in America in 1992.
1993, May 22 Worst flash flood hits southwest Sioux Falls due to stationary thunderstorm dumping 5 to 7.5 inches of rain within 3 hours.
1994, April 28 One of the latest heavy snows on record with around 11 inches in the Sioux Falls area.
The Augustana Choir, under the direction of Doctor James Johnson, performs in Normandy, France in June 1994 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Europe.
The first speaker in the Boe Forum on Public Affairs is General Colin Powell, at the time the former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in 1995.
The changing role of the fire department within the city prompted a large change in 1995 - the Sioux Falls Fire Department was renamed Sioux Falls Fire Rescue.
1996, April 1 The Weather Service Forecast Office (WSFO) at Sioux Falls becomes the Weather Forecast Office (WFO) for both forecast and warning responsibility in southeast South Dakota, bigger portions of northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota, and far northeast Nebraska.
In 1997, Terry Waite, Advisor on Foreign Affairs to the Archbishop of Canterbury and former hostage, spoke at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum.
USF's longest-serving president, Doctor Mark Benedetto, led USF for nearly two decades, from 1997, across the turn of the century.
1998, May 30 F-4 tornado hits Spencer South Dakota, about 40 miles west of Sioux Falls.
In 1998, the Nelson Service Center is built.
1999, March 22 AWIPS (Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System) is installed and begins to replace the AFOS computer system.
The Augustana Band is the first collegiate band to perform in the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea in 1999; the Madsen Center is dedicated; Archbishop Desmond Tutu speaks at the Boe Forum.
Doctor Bruce Halverson '66 is the first alumnus to be named president, the College's 22nd, in 2000.
2001, December 4 The digital forecast era begins with the first products prepared by Meteorologists using the Interactive Forecast Preparation System or IFPS. Graphical forecasts of various weather elements are prepared on this system and sent out to various media including numerous internet users.
The Fantle Building, housing the Center for Western Studies, is dedicated in 2001 and Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan speaks at the Boe Forum.
On February 21, 2003, the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) voted to approve accreditation for Sioux Falls Fire Rescue.
Fire Station No.4, located at 3100 West 69th Street, opened in March 2003.
2003, June 24 One the largest tornado outbreaks in our Nation’s history hits southeast South Dakota.
Former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani is the 2004 Boe Forum speaker.
2004, May 29 and June 16 Two major rain events cause flash flooding of many homes and roads in Sioux Falls.
2005, November 27-29 One of the worst winter storms in South Dakota history occurs in the eastern half of South Dakota, especially the James Valley, where a severe icestorm was followed by a heavy snowstorm/blizzard.
Rob Oliver is inaugurated as Augustana's 23rd president and the Center for Visual Arts is dedicated in 2006.
Fire Station No.10, located at 320 S. Whitewood Circle, opened in August 2006.
A new Viking logo is unveiled and the Vikings join the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in 2008.
The last intercollegiate football game is played on campus as games are now played at the new Howard Wood Field until the opening of Kirkeby-Over Stadium in 2009.
Cattle sales at its stockyards—once among the world’s busiest—ended in 2009, but meat processing remains a major industry.
From there, Sioux Falls’ population has grown by over 10,000 residents each decade breaking the 150,000 barrier in 2009.
The first three Civitas students graduate as the academic year ends in May of 2010.
4. The 2010-11 academic year marked Augustana College’s sesquicentennial.
Former statesmen and head of Google Ideas, Jared Cohen, speaks at the Boe Forum on Public Affairs in 2012; the baseball facility is renovated and renamed Karras Park in honor of alumni donors Don ‘76 and Donna Karras.
Jon Huntsman, speaks at the Boe Forum on Public Affairs in 2013.
Augustana and Sanford Health announce new master’s degree in genetic counseling in 2014.
The newest, Fire Station 11 located at 2333 N Valley View Rd, opened in April 2015.
1, 2015 — 155 years to the date of the institution's founding — the name was changed to Augustana University to better reflect the broadening of Augustana's academic mission.
November 2015 Sioux Falls Fire Rescue was presented with an ISO Class 1 designation, which is only given to fire departments in the United States that meet the highest standards of response capabilities.
In 2017, former congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin became Augustana's 24th president and first female leader.
Continued investments in housing, such as a new apartment complex on Summit Avenue, was dedicated in the fall of 2017.
Sioux Falls.Business was founded by Jodi Schwan in 2017.
In October 2018, Augustana was named the Best College in South Dakota by Money Magazine for the second consecutive year.
One of his first initiatives as president was to reset USF's undergraduate tuition price by $10,000 for the 2018-19 academic year.
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| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Town of Parker | 1981 | $12.0M | 350 | 4 |
| City of Saint Peter, Minnesota | 1873 | $29.0M | 350 | - |
| Oak Ridge Public Works Dept. | - | $24.0M | 350 | - |
| Motorsport.com | 1994 | $8.7M | 600 | 4 |
| EFT Holdings, Inc | 1992 | $275,931 | 30 | - |
| Heat | 1994 | $1.4M | 50 | 23 |
| Blue Sky Network | 2001 | $29.6M | 5 | 93 |
| PEAKE | 2006 | $1.6M | 30 | 18 |
| Zee | - | $540,000 | 50 | - |
| Natick | - | $610,000 | 50 | - |
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Sioux Falls may also be known as or be related to SIOUX FALLS CENTRAL SVC. DEPT. and Sioux Falls.