Hot Springs, SD

In the fall of 1881, five men gathered in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, to form the Hot Springs Town-Site Company. These five men were, Rudolphus D. Jennings, an internal revenue collector, Alexander S. Stewart, a receiver at the United States land office, Ervin G. Dudley, a sawmill owner, L. R. Graves, president of the First National Bank of Deadwood, and Fred T. Evans, a freighter/transportation company owner. These men had come to the Black Hills during the gold rush of the late 1870’s and had fallen on the idea of developing a warm-water resort at the southern end of the Black Hills in an area containing about seventy-five warm-water, mineral–rich springs. And so using locally sourced, warm colored sandstone, the town of Hot Springs was built based on the pursuit of health and well-being.

Prior to the annexation of the Black Hills by the United States, the location was frequented by the Cheyenne and Lakota for the very same reasons envisaged by the entrepreneurs who developed the town – the healing springs. The constant 97-98 degree waters became the basis for the thriving resort town. Numerous bathhouses, sanitariums and luxurious hotels were built to host the thousands of people visiting to bathe in or drink from the warm springs. One of the men, a leading entrepreneur of the time who helped to build the town and ensure its growth was Fred T. Evans.
In 1891-92 Mr. Evans built the Evans Hotel, the grand five-story structure that still stands as a centerpiece in town. The hotel had furnishings imported from Europe, electric lights and warm water piped in for steam heat and baths. On the grounds were golf links, tennis courts and a bathhouse connected to the hotel by an enclosed passageway.

A piece of art itself, the building was constructed of pink sandstone mined four miles from town at Evans Quarry.

The effects of the Sandstone – coming in a variety of colors including white, pink and tan – enchant the eye. The Fall River County Courthouse, the VA Center with the VA Staircase leading to it, and the Minnekahta Block, a massive business edifice, all demonstrate the grandeur and pride of early Hot Springs as does the State Soldiers Home, a beautiful three-story structure of grey sandstone with a double verandah. Picturesque streetscapes lined with nearly 50 sandstone structures are a memorial to the early builders of Hot Springs, and include the smallest union depot in the world.

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