History · Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls dates to 1856, and 74 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 62% of U.S. towns · #17 of 35 in South Dakota. What drives it

Most of Sioux Falls was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. 74 places in town are on the National Register, among them ten historic districts with 1,075 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1883 on and the census since 1880.

1856founded

74on the National Register

9%homes built before 1940

54famous people

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Quick answers

How Sioux Falls began

When was Sioux Falls founded?

1856

Sioux Falls dates its founding to 1856 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 2,164 in 18802020 census: 192,517170 years

How historic is Sioux Falls?

More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1867.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Sioux Falls’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sioux Falls is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #17 of 35 in South Dakota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sioux Falls’ overall grade.

Founding era1856, from Wikidata: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC⁺Homes built before 19408.7% of homes (±0.7) · typical SD town 10.4% · U.S. 8.4%C⁺National Register74 listings, 1,157 historic buildings, 57.4 per 10,000 residents · typical SD town 37.3 · U.S. 2.4A

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 62%

NewerOlder

South Dakota towns of 2,500+ (35)Ahead of 53%

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Sioux Falls ranks #204 on History.

South Dakota towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical South Dakota town has 37.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Sioux Falls’ 57.4 sits above most of its state (82% of South Dakota towns have fewer) while its 1,157 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to A−. The pre-1940 share (±0.7 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1856.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Sioux Falls’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe All Saints Historic District takes in 373 historic buildings.Landmarks on the Register74 places on the National Register.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Sioux Falls, and 10 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Sioux Falls are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

74 listings protect 1,157 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

1,157

each building in a district counts

first listed

1973

All Saints School Main Building

BuildingsDistrictsSitesStructures

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne10

Richardsonian Romanesque7

Romanesque7

Tudor Revival7

Prairie School6

Commercial Style6

All Saints School Main BuildingPrairie Gothic · Built 1884

Old Minnehaha County CourthouseRichardsonian Romanesque

Rock Island DepotRomanesque

Federal Building and U.S. CourthouseRomanesque · Built 1892

Edward Coughran HouseQueen Anne · Built 1887

Grand Lodge and Library of the Ancient Free and Accepted MasonsNeo-Classical

Marion E. Bowen HouseVictorian · Built 1888

Augustana College Historic BuildingsRichardsonian Romanesque

All 74 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Sioux Falls’s post office has been open since 1867. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Sioux Falls

1867–today

East Sioux Falls

1888–1913

South Sioux Falls

1890–1900

18601940today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Cactus HeightsEast Sioux FallsFroelich AdditionHayward AdditionIngberg TractsNorton AcresSilver Valley AdditionSouth Sioux FallsSplit Rock HeightsWebster Grove Addition

Gone or out of use

Sioux Falls Army Air FieldmilitarySouth Sioux Falls City Hallbuilding

8cemeteries and burying grounds inside Sioux Falls

Calvary Episcopal CathedralForest HomeHills of RestMount PleasantMount ZionSaint Michael'sSons of IsraelWoodlawn

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Sioux Falls came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sioux Falls.

Read it all →

Sioux Falls's history revolves around the cascades of the Big Sioux River. The falls were created about 14,000 years ago during the last ice age. The lure of the falls has been a powerful influence. Ho-Chunk, Ioway, Otoe, Missouria, Omaha (and Ponca at the time), Quapaw, Kansa, Osage, Arikara, Sioux, and Cheyenne people first inhabited the region. Numerous burial mounds remain on the high bluffs near the river and are spread throughout the vicinity. Indigenous people maintained an agricultural society with fortified villages, and later arrivals rebuilt on many of the sites that were previously settled. Lakota still populate urban and reservation communities in the state and many Lakota, Dakota, and numerous other Indigenous Americans reside in Sioux Falls.

Chapters2019 tornadoes

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Sioux Falls in 1899

Passages that mention Sioux Falls, cut from the printed page as they were published.

This railroad, the last one to enter Sioux Falls, was opened to the traveling public Octol)er 19, 1893. No railroad project ever conceived of bv a citizen of Sioux Falls, had been so constantly before the public, as a railroad from Sioux Falls to Yankton. The files of the newspapers in Sioux Falls … — **History of Minnehaha county, South Dakota. Containing an account of its settlements, growth, development and resources ... Synopsis of public records, biographical sketches ..**1899 · page 165Read the page →
Read the text
This railroad, the last one to enter Sioux Falls, was opened to the traveling public Octol)er 19, 1893. No railroad project ever conceived of bv a citizen of Sioux Falls, had been so constantly before the public, as a railroad from Sioux Falls to Yankton. The files of the newspapers in Sioux Falls for fifteen years, disclose the fact, that this project, though dormant at times, was ready to come to the front whenever the slig-htest interest in railroad building was manifest among her citizens. At times its construction seemed assured,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

of public instruction, issued an order to Edwin Sharpe, "a householder in district No. 1," to post notices in said district of the first school meeting to be held April 29, 1873, at 7 o'clock p. m., in the room used for school purposes in Sioux Falls. At this meeting the first school officers of th… — **History of Minnehaha county, South Dakota. Containing an account of its settlements, growth, development and resources ... Synopsis of public records, biographical sketches ..**1899 · page 321Read the page →
Read the text
of public instruction, issued an order to Edwin Sharpe, "a householder in district No. 1," to post notices in said district of the first school meeting to be held April 29, 1873, at 7 o'clock p. m., in the room used for school purposes in Sioux Falls. At this meeting the first school officers of the town of Sioux Falls were elected as follows: A. Gale, director; R. F. Pettigrew, clerk; D. S. Goodyear, treasurer.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Sioux Falls, 1856 to 1980

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1856
FoundingSioux Falls is established
1867Post officeThe Sioux Falls post office opens
1884BuiltAll Saints School Main Building is built
1887BuiltEdward Coughran House is built
1888BuiltMarion E. Bowen House is built
1888Post officeThe East Sioux Falls post office opens
1890Post officeThe South Sioux Falls post office opens
1892BuiltFederal Building and U.S. Courthouse is built
20th century
1900Post officeThe South Sioux Falls post office closes
1913Post officeThe East Sioux Falls post office closes
1950Born hereThomas Gullickson is born here
1957Born hereMichael E. Fossum is born here
1962On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1978Born hereJanuary Jones is born here
1980Born hereShayna Baszler is born here

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.

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On the map

Sioux Falls on the map, 1962 to 1971

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sioux Falls. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1962Sioux Falls East sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Sioux Falls.

Every building

Sioux Falls, building by building, 1883–1916

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Sioux Falls fire insurance map, 1883, sheet 1

1883Sheet 1 of 3

Edition

Sheets

+2 more at the Library of Congress

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

People over time

Sioux Falls, census by census

Grew from 2,164 people in 1880 to 192,517 in 2020, more than tenfold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sioux Falls’ Wikipedia page.

Famous people

54 famous people were born in Sioux Falls

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

January JonesAmerican actress · b. 1978

Michael E. FossumAmerican astronaut · b. 1957

Shayna BaszlerAmerican mixed martial artist and professional … · b. 1980

Thomas GullicksonCatholic archbishop · b. 1950

Christopher CainAmerican film director · b. 1943

Keith OlsenAmerican record producer and sound engineer · b. 1945

Help out

Start Sioux Falls’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sioux Falls’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Split Rock Township1 historic placeC Wayne TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Springdale Township1 historic placeB Delapre TownshipIts storyD⁻Brandon Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Mapleton Township2 historic placesB⁻Benton Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town AndersonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Pine Lakes AdditionIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Sioux Falls’ history

What year was Sioux Falls founded?

In 1856, according to Wikidata. Sioux Falls’ post office opened in 1867, and the census of 1880 counted 2,164 people here.

How does Sioux Falls rank for history?

Sioux Falls is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #17 of 35 in South Dakota. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Sioux Falls?

74 listings: 58 buildings, among them the All Saints School Main Building (listed 1973, the first), 10 historic districts with 1,075 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 5 structures. 1,157 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Sioux Falls?

9% of Sioux Falls’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 10% for a South Dakota town; the median home was built in 1993.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (74), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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