Milwaukee Road Freight House (Sandford's Grub and Pub)

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

The Milwaukee Road Freight House is a single-story, historic railroad building in Rapid City, South Dakota. It was built by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad—also called the Milwaukee Road—in 1923 as a place to store and ship freight. Today, it is the home of Sandford's Grub and Pub restaurant. It is one of the last and well-preserved railroad buildings remaining in Rapid City.

Images

The Milwaukee Road Freight House was built in 1923.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Like many other western towns, Rapid City's development early on grew from the railroad industry. The Milwaukee Road reached the city in 1907 and it decided to construct the freight station to accommodate the increase in tourism to the Black Hills after World War I. By this time, the Milwaukee Road owned 1,802 miles of track in the state. By 1980, the Milwaukee Road abandoned the station since it no longer found it useful. It is not clear as to what happened after that and no information appears to be available as to when Sandford's opened. The building itself was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Sources

Geiger, Lee. "Milwaukee Road Freight House." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. January 19, 1989. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/nrhp/text/88003200.PDF.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Jeffrey Beall, via Wikimedia Commons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_Road_Freight_House#/media/File:Milwaukee_Road_Freight_House.JPG