RAPID CITY, SD – The photos from Rapid City’s past are being brought back to life and will be put in a permanent display for future generations to learn about the community’s history, how it looked, and how it has evolved.

On Nov. 8, the Rapid City Historic Preservation Commission is teaming up with the Journey Museum to celebrate Rapid City’s 150^th birthday by asking people to share their historic Rapid City photos to be part of an interactive story map.

“Once those photographs are gone, they’re gone,” Rapid City Community Development Special Projects Planner Jennifer Bergstrom said. “And so, we are trying to capture that history so that we can, and future generations can, enjoy that and share in these special places that are in our family stories, in our memories, the places that have made Rapid City what it is today.”

The “Picture Our Past” session is scheduled for Sunday, November 8 from 2-4 p.m. at the Journey Museum, 222 New York Street, Rapid City.

The Historic Preservation Commission is asking people to bring in three photos, 50 years old or older, of Rapid City’s buildings, homes, skyscapes, commercial buildings, signage – those things that were part of the city landscape has it grew over the past 150 years.

“You know, here in Rapid, we are so lucky to have so much beautiful historic architecture in the city, not just even in the historic districts, but throughout the city,” Bergstrom said. “So, this is an attempt to gather and to record those images that exist of these beautiful structures.”

Photos brought to the Nov. 8 event will be scanned and returned on site so they’ll remain safely with the owner. And if you have more than three photos, they’ll make special arrangements to capture the additional images.

Rapid City has grown tremendously in the past 50 years, Bergstrom said. The population was about 13,000 in 1930; 45,000 in 1970; today the population is about 86,000. There’s been a lot of change in Rapid City’s 150-year history and the Historic Preservation Commission – a volunteer group of seven people dedicated to protecting and celebrating Rapid City’s history – would like to see the photos that capture the city’s rich history.

“What we’ll do with those images is we will create an interactive story map,” Bergstrom said. “This map is going to link these historic images with what is there today so that the community can really learn a bit more about the city’s history in a new way.”

What exactly the interactive map will look like is still in development, but it will be added to The Journey Museum’s digital collections. Bergstrom said she would like it to spatially represent the local landscape, so people can see what was in a certain location and what’s there now – a visual trip down memory lane.

Bergstrom stressed that the group hopes to get a good variety of photos that show Rapid City’s history not just from the downtown area perspective or the business perspective, but the residential side of the community, as well.

“We do have a really impressive archive of historic photos of the downtown especially, but we always welcome more,” she said. “And I know that there’s a lot more out there that we don’t have documented, I’m sure, but also of the residential areas, because that’s something that we don’t have as much of.”

The history of Rapid City’s buildings helped shaped what we see today. For instance, back in 1911 the Rapid City Garage was built on Ninth Street and stocked the Cole Roadster until 1928. Today, that building is Murphy’s Pub & Grill. And when President Calvin Coolidge spent the summer of 1927 in the Black Hills, the former Rapid City High School at 601 Columbus Street was coined the “Summer White House.” Unfortunately, that building burned in 1970 leaving the neighboring building intact.

On Nov. 8, the Rapid City Historic Preservation Commission and The Journey Museum are hoping people with their own historical photos will find three, or more, and share them for the historical interactive map (and maybe share a story, too) and help inform the next generation about the community’s rich past.

Some of Rapid City’s rich history in photographs. Picture Our Past is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 8 and organizers hope people share their own historical photos for the an interactive map being developed.