The city of Sturgis, SD, was founded in 1878 by merchants establishing businesses just beyond the gates of Fort Meade—a military outpost established to protect Black Hills mining settlements, particularly the area around Deadwood, SD. Originally named "Scooptown" (a reference to the ease with which businesses "scooped" money from soldiers eager to spend their pay), the settlement was renamed to honor Fort Meade's first commander, General Samuel D. Sturgis and his son James Garland Sturgis, who died at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, alongside Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, June 25, 1876. Sturgis became the county seat of Meade County in 1889. More recently, the city has become internationally famous for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally , which celebrated its 75th anniversary, August 3–9, 2015.
The annual rally in Sturgis got its start in 1938 when local Indian Motorcycle dealership owner Clarence "Pappy" Hoel and eight other motorcyclists raced one another in front of a small group of spectators on August 14. Except for a brief hiatus during World War II, it attracted a growing number of motorcycle enthusiasts as the rally added races, hill climbs, and concerts. Today, the South Dakota Department of Transportation estimates that 500,000 or more people attend the seven-day event in Sturgis, making it one of the largest motorcycle rallies in the world.
Census data and other statistical sources can help you learn more about South Dakota and the nation's love affair with motorcycles. For example:
American suffragette Lillie Devereux Blake was born August 12, 1833, in Raleigh, NC. Blake joined the suffrage movement in 1869, and was a champion of equal rights, along with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
In the 1870s, Blake successfully lobbied Superintendent of the Census Francis Amasa Walker to hire women for the clerical positions previously filled exclusively by men. Of the 1,705 employees employed by the Census Bureau during the 1880 Census, 771 (45.2 percent) were women.
On August 14, 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced the unconditional surrender of Japan. Although the formal signing of the terms of surrender would not take place until September 2, America and its allies celebrated the end of World War II with spontaneous street celebrations.
In what has since become an iconic image of "VJ Day" celebrations, Navy Lieutenant Victor Jorgensen photographed an American sailorone of 16.1 million veterans of the warkissing a nurse in New York City's Times Square. By war's end, 16.1 million Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces with 406,000 killed and 671,000 wounded. In 1950, 14.1 million males, 18 years and older, reported that they were veterans of World War II. By 2013, the number of American World War II veterans had fallen to 1.3 million.
Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.
Aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss won the Gordon Bennett Cup at the first organized international air meet in Reims, France, August 22–29, 1909. Curtiss flew his biplane at an average speed of 46.77 mph, completing the 12 mile course in 15 minutes, 50.6 seconds.
Curtiss was famous for breaking records on land as well. He set a motorcycle speed record of 64 mph during a Yonkers, NY, hill climb on May 30, 1903. He broke his own record on January 24, 1907, riding a Curtiss V8 motorcycle 136.27 mph in Ormond Beach, FL. Curtiss's 1907 record was not beaten until 1930.
The current motorcyle speed record of 376.363 mph was set by Rocky Robinson at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Tooele County, UT, salt flats on September 25, 2010.
Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.