Josiah Phillips

Dr. Josiah Phillips who's name is forever stamped on Sioux Falls as the main thoroughfare of Downtown bares his name, was a founding father of the city. Though he put in the work to start Sioux Falls, he didn't get to spend a lot of time enjoying the fruits of his labor. 

Josiah Phillips was born in Maine in 1835. His father was a doctor and so Josiah too went to medical school and at the age of 21 graduated in Chicago. Dr. Josiah Phillips then moved to Dubuque Iowa and joined the Western Town Company, and before you know it he was off to manifest some destiny! The Western Town Company headed to what was at that time Minnesota Territory but would soon be Dakota Territory and found an area that would eventually be Sioux Falls. Josiah got a lot of land/prime real estate in 1856. Along with a handful of others they would try to start a small town, Sioux Falls, but he would only stay in the area for a few years leaving to enlist in the Union Army in Iowa. Dr. Phillips would be a surgeon in the Civil War, which is I think the job I would want the least during the Civil War. Phillips was somehow injured during Sherman’s march to the sea and his eyesight never fully recovered.  

After the war ended Josiah married Hattie in 1867 and once Fort Dakota closed in Sioux Falls in 1869 the small family would come and make Sioux Falls their home. Josiah would come first and send for his family once he was ready for them. They would first live in the old Fort. He spent time platting downtown from what is now Minnesota to Phillips and 6th to 9th streets. This was going to make him a very rich man, but money can’t buy you time. Dr. Phillips died suddenly in 1882 at the age of 47.  

Now if you love good food you may be familiar with another namesake of Josiah Phillips... Josiah’s is right off Phillips Ave and has not only tasty treats but some great history too with pictures of the Phillips and some information on their lives.