Rapid City
www.rapidcity.com

The first intrepid pioneers came to the Black Hills with dreams of a better life. They quickly learned, however, that achieving those dreams wouldn’t be easy. Life in the rocky gulches and on the high plains of the Black Hills was difficult. For any one family to succeed, the entire community of settlers needed to work together as partners in their mutual prosperity.
 
As time went on, those Black Hills pioneers didn’t simply survive; they learned to thrive. Rapid City, founded on the banks of Rapid Creek in 1876, became the largest city in western South Dakota. Thanks to the community’s enduring sense of cooperation, Rapid City remains the regional hub for arts, culture, entertainment, commerce, education and healthcare. People from more than five states come here for goods and services of all kinds.
 
Indeed, Rapid City lays claim to facilities and amenities typically found only in cities two or three times as large. The community’s medical sector is especially impressive, with heart clinics, cancer treatment centers, same-day surgery centers, eye care clinics, spinal injury treatment centers, hospitals and dozens of specialists in virtually every area of medicine. In fact, Rapid City was ranked second in the country on the Healthy Cities list by Organic Style magazine in their September/October 2003 issue.
 
Parks and recreation are another of Rapid City’s strengths, including an indoor aquatics center, an indoor ice arena, the Rapid Creek greenway, 1,500 acres of parkland and several golf courses, with the 1.2 million acre Black Hills National Forest providing a breathtaking backdrop for it all.
 
Adding to Rapid City’s strength is the nearby Ellsworth Air Force Base, home to the 28th Bomb Wing and its squadrons of B-1B aircraft. Thanks to an incredible effort and strong partnerships forged across the nation, Ellsworth will continue to play a key role in the economic vitality of the Black Hills and in the defense of our nation for many years to come.
 
Rapid City thrives today because of a strong tradition of collaboration, teamwork and partnerships, and it will continue to prosper long into the future for the same reason. Its residents still work hard and band together to build for the road ahead, but they haven’t forgotten to take the extra time to give strangers a friendly smile and a few kind words before warmly sharing the fruits of their labor.
 
Nearly 61,000 people live in Rapid City proper, making it the largest city (and the only metropolitan area) in western South Dakota. A number of smaller communities and housing developments just outside town – including Black Hawk, Summerset, Rapid Valley, Hermosa and Hisega – boost Rapid City’s actual population to around 80,000. The nearest city with a larger population is Sioux Falls, 350 miles east. Billings, Mont. (375 miles northwest) and Denver, CO (410 miles southwest) are other large trade centers, as is Cheyenne, Wyo. (the slightly smaller Wyoming capital located 310 miles southwest). The 110-store Rushmore Mall and several large chain stores – such as Super Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Lowe’s, Menard’s, JC Penny, Sears, Herberger’s and Kohl’s – make Rapid City a major shopping center.
 
As the gateway to the Black Hills, Rapid City sits at the center of the largest concentration of parks, monuments and memorials in the country. The Black Hills are home to Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Crazy Horse Memorial, Badlands National Park, Custer State Park, Devils Tower National Monument, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, Wind Cave National Park (the third longest cave in the world), Jewel Cave National Monument (the fifth longest cave in the world), Bear Butte State Park and the 117-mile-long Mickelson Trail.
 
Rapid City Regional Airport services the region with four airlines – Northwest, Delta, United and Allegiant – from five hubs: Denver, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Minneapolis/Saint Paul and Las Vegas. Interstate 90 is the major roadway linking Rapid City with the rest of the country. Tourism, ranching, timber, mining, finance, medicine and governmental jobs – particularly those associated with Ellsworth Air Force Base – are the major employers in the city.