Illinois Central Depot  

The Illinois Central was the 4th railroad company to extend service to Sioux Falls opening in 1887. This is a big deal because it connects Sioux Falls which was still Dakota Territory at the time, to Chicago Illinois, a huge city. This is important because at the time Sioux Falls is growing and one of the primary businesses in town was divorce, our divorce laws made South Dakota a great place to get divorced but our railroads, and nice hotel made Sioux Falls specifically a very comfortable place to seek that divorce.  

EA Sherman the father of Sioux Falls Parks system championed a successful effort to raise the 40,000 needed to get this portion of the Illinois Central Railroad to Sioux Falls and this is huge because that is over 1.3 million adjusted for inflation. 

The Passenger Depot for the Illinois Central located at 200 N Cherapa Place opened in 1888 the building is made of Sioux Quartzite that is a deep almost purple color and the architectural style is Queen Anne. Sioux Quartzite was of course a primary construction material in many of our cities first buildings as we seemingly had an inexhaustible supply. The Illinois Central Depot It is one of the few remaining passenger depots in downtown Sioux Falls. We are so lucky this is one that stuck around and got to get restored.  

In the 1950s when passenger service fell off the depot was then used for freight. Once the Illinois Central moved on the building would be abandoned for a period of time before being restored and modified to become offices. 

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and is now home to Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation.