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| The town of Sioux Falls was in eastern Dakota Territory. It grew up near the falls of the Big Sioux River. The town had two beginnings. The first was in 1857. Two land companies platted the town. One was from Iowa, the other from Minnesota. Then some of the Santees, or Dakotas, began to raid white settlements. The year was 1862. Everyone left Sioux Falls. Three years later, the United States Army set up a military post. It was called Fort Dakota. It stood on what is now Phillips Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls. Soon settlers returned. By 1873, nearly six hundred people lived there. Like Aberdeen, Sioux Falls was a wholesale center. The railroads brought goods into town. Then merchants used wagons to take the goods out to the small towns in the countryside. Soon the population of Sioux Falls boomed. Over ten thousand people lived there by 1890. |
