Custer is the oldest town established by European Americans in the Black Hills. Gold was discovered east of Custer during the Black Hills Expedition of 1874 led by Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, a discovery which initiated the Black Hills Goldrush and ended Lakota sovereignty over the area for good.
After increasing encroachment by Americans and the violent confrontations it caused, the U.S. government forced the Lakota to cede much of the Black Hills in 1877 – a direct contravention of the 1855 Treaty of Fort Laramie which had recognised the hills as Lakota land in perpetuity. thus opening up the land for individual purchase and settlement. In 1875 trespassing gold-boomers named their settlement Stonewall (after the Confederate general, Stonewall Jackson), but it was renamed for Lt Colonel Custer. Almost abandoned in 1876 after word of the much larger gold strikes in Deadwood Gulch spread, Custer later became an established city.
Custer has had a smaller population and been less wealthy than the Northern Hills cities of Deadwood and Lead. In addition to gold, Custer and other cities based their economies on the extraction of industrial minerals, which are still important to the regional economy.
Today, Custer annually observes a “Gold Discovery Days” celebration with festivities over the last full weekend of July. This heritage event celebrates the fateful find of gold in nearby French and the subsequent founding of the town.
Custer was known in the 1960’s as the “buffalo capital of the world.” Nearby Custer State Park has a buffalo roundup each September.
Now known as a “foodie” town, Custer has wonderful restaurants, along with many galleries and gift shops to visit