Description

The entire city of Deadwood, SD is a national historic landmark. The city began with a boom during a gold rush in 1876 when it attracted miners and the lawless likes of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok. But after the initial phase of the gold rush, the city settled down and much wealth had been accumulated. The town is small and its hilly geography constricted its expansion, but the wealthy built up the downtown area. A devastating fire in September of 1879 destroyed most of the wooden structures of the downtown and much of it was rebuilt with more permanent brick-and-mortar type structures. These grand buildings, however, began to fall into decay by the early twentieth century when the economy of the down began to dry up. Although this lead to much decay of these grand buildings it also helped preserve them by preventing a booming economy from expanding and replacing them with larger more modern structures. In 1989, to revitalize the economy through tourism and to fund preservation of the history buildings, the citizens of Deadwood made history yet again by making their hometown the third US location to legalize gambling. With the new added revenue, the City of Deadwood has funded a massive historical restoration of the city and its buildings.

Media Id: media_DWD_20070927_163639 Date Uploaded: 2007-09-27 16:36:39