After 150 years, Sioux Falls continues to attract many people to the area. It was the beauty and power of the falls of the Big Sioux River that attracted early pioneers from other states in 1856 when the first town site, Sioux Falls, was organized in the Dakota Territory. Run out by Native American uprisings, these early settlers soon fled the area and did not return until 1865 when the government stepped in for protection and established Fort Dakota, a military reservation. From that early village to a city with a population of 141,000 in 2006, Sioux Falls continues to be one of the best places to live and a beautiful place to visit.
Toward the end of the 19th century, railroads transformed Sioux City from a western outpost to one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the world. Prior to the arrival of the railroads, Sioux City depended on the Missouri River for transportation. The Missouri, however, was not dependable because of flooding and droughts. As an all-season mode of transportation, the railroads permitted the flourishing of the meatpacking industry in Sioux City. In fact, it was the large number of different railroad companies that made Sioux City a major agricultural center rather than just another county seat or market town. Trains carried cattle and hogs to the plants and then carted away the Sioux City-processed products to the nation and to the world.
The first account of the remarkable eighteen-month journey of Lorena Hickok, intimate friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, throughout the country during the worst of the Great Depression, bearing witness to the unprecedented ravaged. During the harshest year of the Great Depression, Lorena Hickok, a top woman news reporter of the day and intimate friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, was hired by FDR’s right hand man Harry Hopkins to embark upon a grueling journey to the hardest hit areas across the country to report back about the degree of devastation. Distinguished historian Michael Golay draws on a trove of original sources—including moving and remarkably intimate almost daily letters between Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt—as he re-creates that extraordinary journey. Hickok traveled almost nonstop for eighteen months, from January 1933 to August 1934, driving through hellish dust storms, rebellion by coal workers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and a near revolution by Midwest farmers. A brilliant observer, Hickok’s searing and deeply empathetic reports to Hopkins and her letters to Mrs. Roosevelt are an unparalleled record of the worst economic disaster in the history of the country. Historically important, they crucially influenced the scope and strategy of the Roosevelt Administration’s unprecedented relief efforts. America 1933 reveals Hickok’s pivotal contribution to the policies of the New Deal, and sheds light on her intense but ill-fated relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt and the forces that inevitably came between them.
A part of Belt's City Anthology Series, a unique take on the South Dakota town residents call "the Best Little City in America." In 1992, Money magazine named Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the best place to
In Peggy Gilbert & Her All-Girl Band, Jeannie Gayle Pool profiles the fascinating life of this multi-talented saxophone player, arranger, bandleader, and advocate for women instrumental musicians. Based on oral history interviews and Gilbert's collection of photographs, newspaper clippings, and other memorabilia, this book includes many materials not previously available on all-women bands from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.
Wallace L. Dow's enduring legacy is visible throughout Sioux Falls and across South Dakota. His distinctive structures, whether civic buildings or private residences, are beholden to no single architectural style. A New Hampshire native, Dow was brought to the Dakota Territory in the 1880s by Governor Nehemiah Ordway. Dow quickly established himself as the preeminent architect of the Dakota prairie, designing iconic structures like Sioux Falls Courthouse and the penitentiary, as well as many beautiful private residences. Using local Sioux quartzite, Dow's buildings gave the emerging Dakota Territory an identity. Yet the architect himself remains something of a mystery. Join author and Dow documentarian Jennifer Dumke as she uncovers Dow's story, recounting the life and work of a true Sioux Falls original who left his mark statewide.
The falls of the Big Sioux River were formed 14,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, as melting ice eroded a channel down to the bedrock, revealing an abundance of Sioux quartzite. The power and beauty of the falls have attracted people to the area ever since, while Sioux quartzite has been used to construct many of the area's buildings. Incorporated as a city in 1856, Sioux Falls has steadily grown from a population of 17 at the time of establishment to 153,888 as of the 2010 census. As a natural part of that growth, change dictates that the old and worn out should make way for the new and shiny. Lest these things be forever forgotten, this book strives to point out what has been lost, what has been saved, and what can be found if one knows where to look.
During the course of his military career, Bud Day won every available combat medal, escaped death on no less than seven occasions, and spent 67 months as a POW in the infamous Hanoi Hilton, along with John McCain. Despite sustained torture, Day would not break. He became a hero to POWs everywhere -- a man who fought without pause, not a prisoner of war, but a prisoner at war. Upon his return, passed over for promotion to Brigadier General, Day retired. But years later, with his children grown and a lifetime of service to his country behind him, he would engage in another battle, this one against an opponent he never had expected: his own country. On his side would be the hundreds of thousands of veterans who had fought for America only to be betrayed. And what would happen next would make Bud Day an even greater legend.
