1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad
History
The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills.
In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.
The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory.
team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.
The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line."
In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too."
During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."
On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.
Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.
Please use "Flag This Place" to alert us about content that is inappropriate or needs immediate attention. Nothing you submit will be shared with other site visitors.
AARP Events for Hill City
AARP Events for Hill City
-
A Virtual Class in Gentle Chair Yoga
Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. MT
Zoom
Online Event
-
Fitness Friday: A Strength & Conditioning Workout for All
Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. MT
Zoom
Online Event
-
A Virtual Hatha Yoga Class for All
Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MT
Zoom
Online Event
Only $12 your first year with Automatic Renewal
- Immediate access to your member benefits
- Discounts on travel and everyday savings
- Subscription to AARP The Magazine
- FREE second membership
Join AARP
Already a member? Renew or
Print Card
Contact AARP
in Hill City
Warning (2): include(/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/app/Resource/aarp2_master.footer.html) [<a href='http://php.net/function.include'>function.include</a>]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory [APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 242]Code Context<?php // if (!$nowrapper) (Globals::$language == 'es') ? include(APP . "/Resource/aarpe_footer_es.html") : include(APP . "/Resource/aarpe_footer.html"); ?><?php if (!$nowrapper): // MLW - Spanish wrappers TBDinclude (APP . "Resource/aarp2_master.footer.html");$viewFile = '/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/app/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'content_for_layout' => '<div class="row twoColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail"><div class="module clearfix"><div class="ar-basic-box"> <div class="module-spacer"> <header><h1 class="article-headline">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</h1></header> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6 left module-spacer"> <p> <div> <div>222 Railroad Ave.</div> <div> <span>Hill City</span>, <span>SD</span> <span>57745</span> </div> </div> </p> <div> <i class="fa fa-external-link-square"></i> <a href="http://www.1880train.com/" target="_blank">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 module-spacer"> <iframe width="100%" height="220" frameborder="0" style="border:0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyCU5aZylcrTOLke9e3U0F2mXovlZ4bL8yk&q=1880+Train%2C+Black+Hills+Central+Railroad%2C+222+Railroad+Ave.%2C+Hill+City%2C+SD+57745" allowfullscreen> </iframe> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer clearfix"> <p>History </p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills.</p> <p></p> <p>In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.</p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory.</p> <p></p> <p>team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.</p> <p></p> <p>The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line."</p> <p></p> <p>In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.</p> <p></p> <p>In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too."</p> <p></p> <p>During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."</p> <p></p> <p>On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.</p> <p></p> <p>Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.</p> <p></p> </div> <div class="reportthis" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <form method="post" action="/hill-city-sd/report/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"> <button type="submit" class="btn btnregister pull-right" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Flag This Place</button> </form> </div> <div class="report_button_message">Please use "Flag This Place" to alert us about content that is inappropriate or needs immediate attention. Nothing you submit will be shared with other site visitors. </div> <style> .report_button_message { color: #333; font-size: 12px; clear: both; } </style> </div> </div> </div><div class="module clearfix"><div class="module-spacer tout-homefit-750"> <a data-formelementid="CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024"><img class="img-responsive" alt="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" title="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/touts/HomeFit_750x150.png"></a> </div></div></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail thin-rhs"><div class="module clearfix"><!--default--> <!-- module_RHS - AARP Events --> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <div class="pull-right"> <a href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS"> <img style="width:30px;" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/icons/aarp_event_icon.png" alt="Upcoming AARP Events" /> </a> </div> <h2 class="visible-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> <h2 class="hidden-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-listing snippet"> <ul class="list"> <li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-maine-yoga-with-sea-change-yoga-november-2024-dwn5382699b.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-CLASS-IN-GENTLE-CHAIR-YOGA">A Virtual Class in Gentle Chair Yoga</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/fitness-friday-strength-conditioning-112224-lfnfsg5wz8g.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-FITNESS-FRIDAY-A-STRENGTH-CONDITIONING-WORKOUT-FOR-ALL">Fitness Friday: A Strength & Conditioning Workout for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-co-virtual-hatha-yoga-with-teri-mullen-online-co-111-12132024-46n842qg24q.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-HATHA-YOGA-CLASS-FOR-ALL">A Virtual Hatha Yoga Class for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li> </ul> <p><a class="link-red" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS">View All AARP Events<i class="ml-1 fas fa-chevron-right"></i></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_53475" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_53475', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="card-tout card-dark membership-tout" style="margin:0 0 30px 0;"> <img class="img-responsive image" title="image of two AARP membership cards" alt="image of two AARP membership cards" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/tout-two-cards.png"> <div class="title">Only $12 your first year with Automatic Renewal</div> <ul class="list"> <li>Immediate access to your <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/">member benefits</a></li> <li>Discounts on travel and everyday savings</li> <li>Subscription to AARP The Magazine</li> <li>FREE second membership</li> </ul> <div class="action"> <a class="btn" href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/join?campaignid=UAJFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Join AARP</a> <div class="body">Already a member? <a href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/renew?campaignid= UARFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Renew</a> or <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/my-membership/print-your-card/">Print Card</a></div> </div> </div> <style> .membership-tout {padding:16px 20px;} .membership-tout .list li { margin: 0; } </style> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_93505" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_93505', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer text-center"> <div class="fb-page" alt="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" title="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" data-tabs="timeline" width="320" height="" data-small-header="false" data-adapt-container-width="true" data-hide-cover="false" data-show-facepile="true" lazy="true"> <blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota">Facebook</a></blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <h2>Contact AARP <br />in Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-quick-list module-spacer"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-envelope" alt="Email icon" title="Email icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:SDAARP@aarp.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDAARP@aarp.org</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-globe" alt="Globe icon" title="Globe icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/region/south-dakota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AARP South Dakota</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-map-marker" alt="Map Marker icon" title="Map Marker icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/contact-aarp-south-dakota/?intcmp=SNG-LNK-AARPLOCAL-CONTACT-20140101-HILLCITY-SD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact Us</a></li> </ul> </div> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Facebook"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/facebook-dreamstale25.png" alt="Facebook icon" title="Facebook icon"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/aarpsd" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Twitter"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/x-logo-black.png" alt="Twitter icon" title="Twitter icon"></a> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail left-bot"></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail right-bot thin-rhs"></div> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-12"><!-- script to activate navbar --> <script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(".channelBarMain ul.left li a").click(function() { window.location = jQuery(this).attr('href'); }); </script> </div> </div> ', 'scripts_for_layout' => '<title>1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD</title> <meta name="page_title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD"/> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/> <meta content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural" name="description"/> <meta content="1880, Train, Black, Hills, Central, Railroad, Hill, City, SD" name="keywords"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.americantowns.com/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://vccstaging.local.aarp.org/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="og:type" content="place"/> <meta property="og:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta property="og:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="place:location:latitude" content="43.932598"/> <meta property="place:location:longitude" content="-103.572998"/> ', 'title_for_layout' => 'Place Detail - AARP' ) $content_for_layout = '<div class="row twoColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail"><div class="module clearfix"><div class="ar-basic-box"> <div class="module-spacer"> <header><h1 class="article-headline">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</h1></header> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6 left module-spacer"> <p> <div> <div>222 Railroad Ave.</div> <div> <span>Hill City</span>, <span>SD</span> <span>57745</span> </div> </div> </p> <div> <i class="fa fa-external-link-square"></i> <a href="http://www.1880train.com/" target="_blank">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 module-spacer"> <iframe width="100%" height="220" frameborder="0" style="border:0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyCU5aZylcrTOLke9e3U0F2mXovlZ4bL8yk&q=1880+Train%2C+Black+Hills+Central+Railroad%2C+222+Railroad+Ave.%2C+Hill+City%2C+SD+57745" allowfullscreen> </iframe> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer clearfix"> <p>History </p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills.</p> <p></p> <p>In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.</p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory.</p> <p></p> <p>team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.</p> <p></p> <p>The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line."</p> <p></p> <p>In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.</p> <p></p> <p>In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too."</p> <p></p> <p>During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."</p> <p></p> <p>On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.</p> <p></p> <p>Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.</p> <p></p> </div> <div class="reportthis" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <form method="post" action="/hill-city-sd/report/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"> <button type="submit" class="btn btnregister pull-right" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Flag This Place</button> </form> </div> <div class="report_button_message">Please use "Flag This Place" to alert us about content that is inappropriate or needs immediate attention. Nothing you submit will be shared with other site visitors. </div> <style> .report_button_message { color: #333; font-size: 12px; clear: both; } </style> </div> </div> </div><div class="module clearfix"><div class="module-spacer tout-homefit-750"> <a data-formelementid="CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024"><img class="img-responsive" alt="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" title="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/touts/HomeFit_750x150.png"></a> </div></div></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail thin-rhs"><div class="module clearfix"><!--default--> <!-- module_RHS - AARP Events --> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <div class="pull-right"> <a href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS"> <img style="width:30px;" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/icons/aarp_event_icon.png" alt="Upcoming AARP Events" /> </a> </div> <h2 class="visible-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> <h2 class="hidden-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-listing snippet"> <ul class="list"> <li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-maine-yoga-with-sea-change-yoga-november-2024-dwn5382699b.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-CLASS-IN-GENTLE-CHAIR-YOGA">A Virtual Class in Gentle Chair Yoga</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/fitness-friday-strength-conditioning-112224-lfnfsg5wz8g.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-FITNESS-FRIDAY-A-STRENGTH-CONDITIONING-WORKOUT-FOR-ALL">Fitness Friday: A Strength & Conditioning Workout for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-co-virtual-hatha-yoga-with-teri-mullen-online-co-111-12132024-46n842qg24q.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-HATHA-YOGA-CLASS-FOR-ALL">A Virtual Hatha Yoga Class for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li> </ul> <p><a class="link-red" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS">View All AARP Events<i class="ml-1 fas fa-chevron-right"></i></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_53475" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_53475', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="card-tout card-dark membership-tout" style="margin:0 0 30px 0;"> <img class="img-responsive image" title="image of two AARP membership cards" alt="image of two AARP membership cards" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/tout-two-cards.png"> <div class="title">Only $12 your first year with Automatic Renewal</div> <ul class="list"> <li>Immediate access to your <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/">member benefits</a></li> <li>Discounts on travel and everyday savings</li> <li>Subscription to AARP The Magazine</li> <li>FREE second membership</li> </ul> <div class="action"> <a class="btn" href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/join?campaignid=UAJFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Join AARP</a> <div class="body">Already a member? <a href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/renew?campaignid= UARFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Renew</a> or <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/my-membership/print-your-card/">Print Card</a></div> </div> </div> <style> .membership-tout {padding:16px 20px;} .membership-tout .list li { margin: 0; } </style> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_93505" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_93505', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer text-center"> <div class="fb-page" alt="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" title="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" data-tabs="timeline" width="320" height="" data-small-header="false" data-adapt-container-width="true" data-hide-cover="false" data-show-facepile="true" lazy="true"> <blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota">Facebook</a></blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <h2>Contact AARP <br />in Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-quick-list module-spacer"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-envelope" alt="Email icon" title="Email icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:SDAARP@aarp.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDAARP@aarp.org</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-globe" alt="Globe icon" title="Globe icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/region/south-dakota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AARP South Dakota</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-map-marker" alt="Map Marker icon" title="Map Marker icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/contact-aarp-south-dakota/?intcmp=SNG-LNK-AARPLOCAL-CONTACT-20140101-HILLCITY-SD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact Us</a></li> </ul> </div> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Facebook"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/facebook-dreamstale25.png" alt="Facebook icon" title="Facebook icon"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/aarpsd" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Twitter"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/x-logo-black.png" alt="Twitter icon" title="Twitter icon"></a> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail left-bot"></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail right-bot thin-rhs"></div> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-12"><!-- script to activate navbar --> <script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(".channelBarMain ul.left li a").click(function() { window.location = jQuery(this).attr('href'); }); </script> </div> </div> ' $scripts_for_layout = '<title>1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD</title> <meta name="page_title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD"/> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/> <meta content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural" name="description"/> <meta content="1880, Train, Black, Hills, Central, Railroad, Hill, City, SD" name="keywords"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.americantowns.com/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://vccstaging.local.aarp.org/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="og:type" content="place"/> <meta property="og:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta property="og:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="place:location:latitude" content="43.932598"/> <meta property="place:location:longitude" content="-103.572998"/> ' $title_for_layout = 'Place Detail - AARP' $asset_version = '230831' $min = true $nowrapper = false $css = '' $highlighting = '<span class="highlighting">Highlighting Hill City </span>' $location = '<a href="/hill-city-sd/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HOME">Black Hills, SD</a>' $no_header = false $header_title = '<a href="/hill-city-sd/things-to-do/">Places</a>' $header_subtitle = '' $isPR = false $navbar = '<nav class="section" role="button" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="collapse"> <div class="section-toggle">Sections <i class="fas fa-chevron-down"></i></div> <ul class="secondary-menu" id="secondary-menu" role="menu" aria-busy="true"> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-OLE" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-EVENTS">Online & Local Events</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class="active"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/things-to-do/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-TTD" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-THINGSTODO">Things to Do</a></li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/happenings/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-NF" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HAPPENINGS">News Feed</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/volunteering/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-VOL" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-VOLUNTEERING">Volunteering</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HC" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HC">Home & Community</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/movies/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-MFG" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MOVIESFORGROWNUPS">Movies for Grownups</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class="more nosep " id="submenu-more"> <span role="menuitem" class="menuitem" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MORE">More<i class="fas fa-chevron-down"></i></span> <ul class="secondary-submenu animate slide-in" id="secondary-submenu"> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/discounts/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-LO" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-OFFERS">Local Offers</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/local-resources/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-LR" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-LOCALRESOURCES">Local Resources</a> </li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/jobs/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-WJ" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-WORK&JOBS">Work & Jobs</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/events/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-CC" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-EVENTS">Community Calendar</a></li> <!-- <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/healthy-living/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HEALTHY_LIVING" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HEALTHY_LIVING">Healthy Living</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/arts-entertainment/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-ARTS_ENT" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-ARTS_ENT">Arts & Entertainment</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/museums/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-MUSEUMS" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MUSEUMS">Museums</a></li> --> </ul> </li> </ul> </nav>' $header_custom = '' $breadcrumbs = array( (int) 0 => array( 'title' => 'Things to Do', 'slug' => 'things-to-do' ) ) $row = array( 'title' => 'Back to Things to Do', 'slug' => 'things-to-do' ) $i = (int) 0include - APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 242 include - APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 242 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::renderLayout() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 546 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 481 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 963 AppController::renderPage() - APP/Controller/AppController.php, line 136 PlacesController::display() - APP/Controller/PlacesController.php, line 501 ReflectionMethod::invokeArgs() - [internal], line ?? Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 491 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 193 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 118
Warning (2): include() [<a href='http://php.net/function.include'>function.include</a>]: Failed opening '/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/app/Resource/aarp2_master.footer.html' for inclusion (include_path='/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/lib:.:/usr/share/pear:/usr/share/php') [APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 242]Code Context<?php // if (!$nowrapper) (Globals::$language == 'es') ? include(APP . "/Resource/aarpe_footer_es.html") : include(APP . "/Resource/aarpe_footer.html"); ?><?php if (!$nowrapper): // MLW - Spanish wrappers TBDinclude (APP . "Resource/aarp2_master.footer.html");$viewFile = '/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/app/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'content_for_layout' => '<div class="row twoColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail"><div class="module clearfix"><div class="ar-basic-box"> <div class="module-spacer"> <header><h1 class="article-headline">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</h1></header> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6 left module-spacer"> <p> <div> <div>222 Railroad Ave.</div> <div> <span>Hill City</span>, <span>SD</span> <span>57745</span> </div> </div> </p> <div> <i class="fa fa-external-link-square"></i> <a href="http://www.1880train.com/" target="_blank">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 module-spacer"> <iframe width="100%" height="220" frameborder="0" style="border:0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyCU5aZylcrTOLke9e3U0F2mXovlZ4bL8yk&q=1880+Train%2C+Black+Hills+Central+Railroad%2C+222+Railroad+Ave.%2C+Hill+City%2C+SD+57745" allowfullscreen> </iframe> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer clearfix"> <p>History </p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills.</p> <p></p> <p>In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.</p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory.</p> <p></p> <p>team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.</p> <p></p> <p>The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line."</p> <p></p> <p>In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.</p> <p></p> <p>In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too."</p> <p></p> <p>During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."</p> <p></p> <p>On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.</p> <p></p> <p>Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.</p> <p></p> </div> <div class="reportthis" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <form method="post" action="/hill-city-sd/report/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"> <button type="submit" class="btn btnregister pull-right" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Flag This Place</button> </form> </div> <div class="report_button_message">Please use "Flag This Place" to alert us about content that is inappropriate or needs immediate attention. Nothing you submit will be shared with other site visitors. </div> <style> .report_button_message { color: #333; font-size: 12px; clear: both; } </style> </div> </div> </div><div class="module clearfix"><div class="module-spacer tout-homefit-750"> <a data-formelementid="CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024"><img class="img-responsive" alt="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" title="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/touts/HomeFit_750x150.png"></a> </div></div></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail thin-rhs"><div class="module clearfix"><!--default--> <!-- module_RHS - AARP Events --> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <div class="pull-right"> <a href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS"> <img style="width:30px;" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/icons/aarp_event_icon.png" alt="Upcoming AARP Events" /> </a> </div> <h2 class="visible-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> <h2 class="hidden-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-listing snippet"> <ul class="list"> <li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-maine-yoga-with-sea-change-yoga-november-2024-dwn5382699b.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-CLASS-IN-GENTLE-CHAIR-YOGA">A Virtual Class in Gentle Chair Yoga</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/fitness-friday-strength-conditioning-112224-lfnfsg5wz8g.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-FITNESS-FRIDAY-A-STRENGTH-CONDITIONING-WORKOUT-FOR-ALL">Fitness Friday: A Strength & Conditioning Workout for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-co-virtual-hatha-yoga-with-teri-mullen-online-co-111-12132024-46n842qg24q.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-HATHA-YOGA-CLASS-FOR-ALL">A Virtual Hatha Yoga Class for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li> </ul> <p><a class="link-red" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS">View All AARP Events<i class="ml-1 fas fa-chevron-right"></i></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_53475" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_53475', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="card-tout card-dark membership-tout" style="margin:0 0 30px 0;"> <img class="img-responsive image" title="image of two AARP membership cards" alt="image of two AARP membership cards" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/tout-two-cards.png"> <div class="title">Only $12 your first year with Automatic Renewal</div> <ul class="list"> <li>Immediate access to your <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/">member benefits</a></li> <li>Discounts on travel and everyday savings</li> <li>Subscription to AARP The Magazine</li> <li>FREE second membership</li> </ul> <div class="action"> <a class="btn" href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/join?campaignid=UAJFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Join AARP</a> <div class="body">Already a member? <a href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/renew?campaignid= UARFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Renew</a> or <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/my-membership/print-your-card/">Print Card</a></div> </div> </div> <style> .membership-tout {padding:16px 20px;} .membership-tout .list li { margin: 0; } </style> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_93505" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_93505', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer text-center"> <div class="fb-page" alt="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" title="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" data-tabs="timeline" width="320" height="" data-small-header="false" data-adapt-container-width="true" data-hide-cover="false" data-show-facepile="true" lazy="true"> <blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota">Facebook</a></blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <h2>Contact AARP <br />in Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-quick-list module-spacer"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-envelope" alt="Email icon" title="Email icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:SDAARP@aarp.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDAARP@aarp.org</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-globe" alt="Globe icon" title="Globe icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/region/south-dakota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AARP South Dakota</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-map-marker" alt="Map Marker icon" title="Map Marker icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/contact-aarp-south-dakota/?intcmp=SNG-LNK-AARPLOCAL-CONTACT-20140101-HILLCITY-SD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact Us</a></li> </ul> </div> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Facebook"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/facebook-dreamstale25.png" alt="Facebook icon" title="Facebook icon"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/aarpsd" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Twitter"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/x-logo-black.png" alt="Twitter icon" title="Twitter icon"></a> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail left-bot"></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail right-bot thin-rhs"></div> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-12"><!-- script to activate navbar --> <script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(".channelBarMain ul.left li a").click(function() { window.location = jQuery(this).attr('href'); }); </script> </div> </div> ', 'scripts_for_layout' => '<title>1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD</title> <meta name="page_title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD"/> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/> <meta content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural" name="description"/> <meta content="1880, Train, Black, Hills, Central, Railroad, Hill, City, SD" name="keywords"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.americantowns.com/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://vccstaging.local.aarp.org/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="og:type" content="place"/> <meta property="og:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta property="og:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="place:location:latitude" content="43.932598"/> <meta property="place:location:longitude" content="-103.572998"/> ', 'title_for_layout' => 'Place Detail - AARP' ) $content_for_layout = '<div class="row twoColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail"><div class="module clearfix"><div class="ar-basic-box"> <div class="module-spacer"> <header><h1 class="article-headline">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</h1></header> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6 left module-spacer"> <p> <div> <div>222 Railroad Ave.</div> <div> <span>Hill City</span>, <span>SD</span> <span>57745</span> </div> </div> </p> <div> <i class="fa fa-external-link-square"></i> <a href="http://www.1880train.com/" target="_blank">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 module-spacer"> <iframe width="100%" height="220" frameborder="0" style="border:0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyCU5aZylcrTOLke9e3U0F2mXovlZ4bL8yk&q=1880+Train%2C+Black+Hills+Central+Railroad%2C+222+Railroad+Ave.%2C+Hill+City%2C+SD+57745" allowfullscreen> </iframe> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer clearfix"> <p>History </p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills.</p> <p></p> <p>In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.</p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory.</p> <p></p> <p>team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.</p> <p></p> <p>The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line."</p> <p></p> <p>In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.</p> <p></p> <p>In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too."</p> <p></p> <p>During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."</p> <p></p> <p>On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.</p> <p></p> <p>Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.</p> <p></p> </div> <div class="reportthis" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <form method="post" action="/hill-city-sd/report/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"> <button type="submit" class="btn btnregister pull-right" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Flag This Place</button> </form> </div> <div class="report_button_message">Please use "Flag This Place" to alert us about content that is inappropriate or needs immediate attention. Nothing you submit will be shared with other site visitors. </div> <style> .report_button_message { color: #333; font-size: 12px; clear: both; } </style> </div> </div> </div><div class="module clearfix"><div class="module-spacer tout-homefit-750"> <a data-formelementid="CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024"><img class="img-responsive" alt="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" title="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/touts/HomeFit_750x150.png"></a> </div></div></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail thin-rhs"><div class="module clearfix"><!--default--> <!-- module_RHS - AARP Events --> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <div class="pull-right"> <a href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS"> <img style="width:30px;" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/icons/aarp_event_icon.png" alt="Upcoming AARP Events" /> </a> </div> <h2 class="visible-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> <h2 class="hidden-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-listing snippet"> <ul class="list"> <li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-maine-yoga-with-sea-change-yoga-november-2024-dwn5382699b.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-CLASS-IN-GENTLE-CHAIR-YOGA">A Virtual Class in Gentle Chair Yoga</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/fitness-friday-strength-conditioning-112224-lfnfsg5wz8g.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-FITNESS-FRIDAY-A-STRENGTH-CONDITIONING-WORKOUT-FOR-ALL">Fitness Friday: A Strength & Conditioning Workout for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-co-virtual-hatha-yoga-with-teri-mullen-online-co-111-12132024-46n842qg24q.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-HATHA-YOGA-CLASS-FOR-ALL">A Virtual Hatha Yoga Class for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li> </ul> <p><a class="link-red" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS">View All AARP Events<i class="ml-1 fas fa-chevron-right"></i></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_53475" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_53475', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="card-tout card-dark membership-tout" style="margin:0 0 30px 0;"> <img class="img-responsive image" title="image of two AARP membership cards" alt="image of two AARP membership cards" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/tout-two-cards.png"> <div class="title">Only $12 your first year with Automatic Renewal</div> <ul class="list"> <li>Immediate access to your <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/">member benefits</a></li> <li>Discounts on travel and everyday savings</li> <li>Subscription to AARP The Magazine</li> <li>FREE second membership</li> </ul> <div class="action"> <a class="btn" href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/join?campaignid=UAJFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Join AARP</a> <div class="body">Already a member? <a href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/renew?campaignid= UARFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Renew</a> or <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/my-membership/print-your-card/">Print Card</a></div> </div> </div> <style> .membership-tout {padding:16px 20px;} .membership-tout .list li { margin: 0; } </style> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_93505" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_93505', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer text-center"> <div class="fb-page" alt="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" title="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" data-tabs="timeline" width="320" height="" data-small-header="false" data-adapt-container-width="true" data-hide-cover="false" data-show-facepile="true" lazy="true"> <blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota">Facebook</a></blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <h2>Contact AARP <br />in Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-quick-list module-spacer"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-envelope" alt="Email icon" title="Email icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:SDAARP@aarp.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDAARP@aarp.org</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-globe" alt="Globe icon" title="Globe icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/region/south-dakota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AARP South Dakota</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-map-marker" alt="Map Marker icon" title="Map Marker icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/contact-aarp-south-dakota/?intcmp=SNG-LNK-AARPLOCAL-CONTACT-20140101-HILLCITY-SD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact Us</a></li> </ul> </div> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Facebook"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/facebook-dreamstale25.png" alt="Facebook icon" title="Facebook icon"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/aarpsd" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Twitter"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/x-logo-black.png" alt="Twitter icon" title="Twitter icon"></a> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail left-bot"></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail right-bot thin-rhs"></div> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-12"><!-- script to activate navbar --> <script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(".channelBarMain ul.left li a").click(function() { window.location = jQuery(this).attr('href'); }); </script> </div> </div> ' $scripts_for_layout = '<title>1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD</title> <meta name="page_title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD"/> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/> <meta content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural" name="description"/> <meta content="1880, Train, Black, Hills, Central, Railroad, Hill, City, SD" name="keywords"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.americantowns.com/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://vccstaging.local.aarp.org/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="og:type" content="place"/> <meta property="og:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta property="og:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="place:location:latitude" content="43.932598"/> <meta property="place:location:longitude" content="-103.572998"/> ' $title_for_layout = 'Place Detail - AARP' $asset_version = '230831' $min = true $nowrapper = false $css = '' $highlighting = '<span class="highlighting">Highlighting Hill City </span>' $location = '<a href="/hill-city-sd/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HOME">Black Hills, SD</a>' $no_header = false $header_title = '<a href="/hill-city-sd/things-to-do/">Places</a>' $header_subtitle = '' $isPR = false $navbar = '<nav class="section" role="button" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="collapse"> <div class="section-toggle">Sections <i class="fas fa-chevron-down"></i></div> <ul class="secondary-menu" id="secondary-menu" role="menu" aria-busy="true"> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-OLE" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-EVENTS">Online & Local Events</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class="active"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/things-to-do/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-TTD" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-THINGSTODO">Things to Do</a></li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/happenings/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-NF" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HAPPENINGS">News Feed</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/volunteering/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-VOL" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-VOLUNTEERING">Volunteering</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HC" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HC">Home & Community</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/movies/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-MFG" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MOVIESFORGROWNUPS">Movies for Grownups</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class="more nosep " id="submenu-more"> <span role="menuitem" class="menuitem" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MORE">More<i class="fas fa-chevron-down"></i></span> <ul class="secondary-submenu animate slide-in" id="secondary-submenu"> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/discounts/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-LO" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-OFFERS">Local Offers</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/local-resources/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-LR" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-LOCALRESOURCES">Local Resources</a> </li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/jobs/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-WJ" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-WORK&JOBS">Work & Jobs</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/events/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-CC" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-EVENTS">Community Calendar</a></li> <!-- <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/healthy-living/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HEALTHY_LIVING" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HEALTHY_LIVING">Healthy Living</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/arts-entertainment/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-ARTS_ENT" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-ARTS_ENT">Arts & Entertainment</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/museums/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-MUSEUMS" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MUSEUMS">Museums</a></li> --> </ul> </li> </ul> </nav>' $header_custom = '' $breadcrumbs = array( (int) 0 => array( 'title' => 'Things to Do', 'slug' => 'things-to-do' ) ) $row = array( 'title' => 'Back to Things to Do', 'slug' => 'things-to-do' ) $i = (int) 0include - APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 242 include - APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 242 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::renderLayout() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 546 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 481 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 963 AppController::renderPage() - APP/Controller/AppController.php, line 136 PlacesController::display() - APP/Controller/PlacesController.php, line 501 ReflectionMethod::invokeArgs() - [internal], line ?? Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 491 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 193 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 118
Warning (2): include(/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/app/Resource/aarp2_master.bodyTargeting.html) [<a href='http://php.net/function.include'>function.include</a>]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory [APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 243]Code Context<?php if (!$nowrapper): // MLW - Spanish wrappers TBDinclude (APP . "Resource/aarp2_master.footer.html");include (APP . "Resource/aarp2_master.bodyTargeting.html");$viewFile = '/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/app/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'content_for_layout' => '<div class="row twoColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail"><div class="module clearfix"><div class="ar-basic-box"> <div class="module-spacer"> <header><h1 class="article-headline">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</h1></header> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6 left module-spacer"> <p> <div> <div>222 Railroad Ave.</div> <div> <span>Hill City</span>, <span>SD</span> <span>57745</span> </div> </div> </p> <div> <i class="fa fa-external-link-square"></i> <a href="http://www.1880train.com/" target="_blank">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 module-spacer"> <iframe width="100%" height="220" frameborder="0" style="border:0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyCU5aZylcrTOLke9e3U0F2mXovlZ4bL8yk&q=1880+Train%2C+Black+Hills+Central+Railroad%2C+222+Railroad+Ave.%2C+Hill+City%2C+SD+57745" allowfullscreen> </iframe> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer clearfix"> <p>History </p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills.</p> <p></p> <p>In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.</p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory.</p> <p></p> <p>team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.</p> <p></p> <p>The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line."</p> <p></p> <p>In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.</p> <p></p> <p>In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too."</p> <p></p> <p>During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."</p> <p></p> <p>On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.</p> <p></p> <p>Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.</p> <p></p> </div> <div class="reportthis" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <form method="post" action="/hill-city-sd/report/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"> <button type="submit" class="btn btnregister pull-right" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Flag This Place</button> </form> </div> <div class="report_button_message">Please use "Flag This Place" to alert us about content that is inappropriate or needs immediate attention. Nothing you submit will be shared with other site visitors. </div> <style> .report_button_message { color: #333; font-size: 12px; clear: both; } </style> </div> </div> </div><div class="module clearfix"><div class="module-spacer tout-homefit-750"> <a data-formelementid="CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024"><img class="img-responsive" alt="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" title="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/touts/HomeFit_750x150.png"></a> </div></div></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail thin-rhs"><div class="module clearfix"><!--default--> <!-- module_RHS - AARP Events --> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <div class="pull-right"> <a href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS"> <img style="width:30px;" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/icons/aarp_event_icon.png" alt="Upcoming AARP Events" /> </a> </div> <h2 class="visible-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> <h2 class="hidden-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-listing snippet"> <ul class="list"> <li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-maine-yoga-with-sea-change-yoga-november-2024-dwn5382699b.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-CLASS-IN-GENTLE-CHAIR-YOGA">A Virtual Class in Gentle Chair Yoga</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/fitness-friday-strength-conditioning-112224-lfnfsg5wz8g.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-FITNESS-FRIDAY-A-STRENGTH-CONDITIONING-WORKOUT-FOR-ALL">Fitness Friday: A Strength & Conditioning Workout for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-co-virtual-hatha-yoga-with-teri-mullen-online-co-111-12132024-46n842qg24q.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-HATHA-YOGA-CLASS-FOR-ALL">A Virtual Hatha Yoga Class for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li> </ul> <p><a class="link-red" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS">View All AARP Events<i class="ml-1 fas fa-chevron-right"></i></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_53475" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_53475', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="card-tout card-dark membership-tout" style="margin:0 0 30px 0;"> <img class="img-responsive image" title="image of two AARP membership cards" alt="image of two AARP membership cards" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/tout-two-cards.png"> <div class="title">Only $12 your first year with Automatic Renewal</div> <ul class="list"> <li>Immediate access to your <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/">member benefits</a></li> <li>Discounts on travel and everyday savings</li> <li>Subscription to AARP The Magazine</li> <li>FREE second membership</li> </ul> <div class="action"> <a class="btn" href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/join?campaignid=UAJFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Join AARP</a> <div class="body">Already a member? <a href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/renew?campaignid= UARFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Renew</a> or <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/my-membership/print-your-card/">Print Card</a></div> </div> </div> <style> .membership-tout {padding:16px 20px;} .membership-tout .list li { margin: 0; } </style> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_93505" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_93505', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer text-center"> <div class="fb-page" alt="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" title="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" data-tabs="timeline" width="320" height="" data-small-header="false" data-adapt-container-width="true" data-hide-cover="false" data-show-facepile="true" lazy="true"> <blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota">Facebook</a></blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <h2>Contact AARP <br />in Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-quick-list module-spacer"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-envelope" alt="Email icon" title="Email icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:SDAARP@aarp.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDAARP@aarp.org</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-globe" alt="Globe icon" title="Globe icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/region/south-dakota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AARP South Dakota</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-map-marker" alt="Map Marker icon" title="Map Marker icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/contact-aarp-south-dakota/?intcmp=SNG-LNK-AARPLOCAL-CONTACT-20140101-HILLCITY-SD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact Us</a></li> </ul> </div> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Facebook"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/facebook-dreamstale25.png" alt="Facebook icon" title="Facebook icon"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/aarpsd" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Twitter"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/x-logo-black.png" alt="Twitter icon" title="Twitter icon"></a> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail left-bot"></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail right-bot thin-rhs"></div> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-12"><!-- script to activate navbar --> <script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(".channelBarMain ul.left li a").click(function() { window.location = jQuery(this).attr('href'); }); </script> </div> </div> ', 'scripts_for_layout' => '<title>1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD</title> <meta name="page_title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD"/> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/> <meta content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural" name="description"/> <meta content="1880, Train, Black, Hills, Central, Railroad, Hill, City, SD" name="keywords"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.americantowns.com/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://vccstaging.local.aarp.org/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="og:type" content="place"/> <meta property="og:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta property="og:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="place:location:latitude" content="43.932598"/> <meta property="place:location:longitude" content="-103.572998"/> ', 'title_for_layout' => 'Place Detail - AARP' ) $content_for_layout = '<div class="row twoColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail"><div class="module clearfix"><div class="ar-basic-box"> <div class="module-spacer"> <header><h1 class="article-headline">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</h1></header> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6 left module-spacer"> <p> <div> <div>222 Railroad Ave.</div> <div> <span>Hill City</span>, <span>SD</span> <span>57745</span> </div> </div> </p> <div> <i class="fa fa-external-link-square"></i> <a href="http://www.1880train.com/" target="_blank">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 module-spacer"> <iframe width="100%" height="220" frameborder="0" style="border:0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyCU5aZylcrTOLke9e3U0F2mXovlZ4bL8yk&q=1880+Train%2C+Black+Hills+Central+Railroad%2C+222+Railroad+Ave.%2C+Hill+City%2C+SD+57745" allowfullscreen> </iframe> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer clearfix"> <p>History </p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills.</p> <p></p> <p>In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.</p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory.</p> <p></p> <p>team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.</p> <p></p> <p>The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line."</p> <p></p> <p>In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.</p> <p></p> <p>In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too."</p> <p></p> <p>During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."</p> <p></p> <p>On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.</p> <p></p> <p>Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.</p> <p></p> </div> <div class="reportthis" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <form method="post" action="/hill-city-sd/report/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"> <button type="submit" class="btn btnregister pull-right" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Flag This Place</button> </form> </div> <div class="report_button_message">Please use "Flag This Place" to alert us about content that is inappropriate or needs immediate attention. Nothing you submit will be shared with other site visitors. </div> <style> .report_button_message { color: #333; font-size: 12px; clear: both; } </style> </div> </div> </div><div class="module clearfix"><div class="module-spacer tout-homefit-750"> <a data-formelementid="CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024"><img class="img-responsive" alt="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" title="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/touts/HomeFit_750x150.png"></a> </div></div></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail thin-rhs"><div class="module clearfix"><!--default--> <!-- module_RHS - AARP Events --> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <div class="pull-right"> <a href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS"> <img style="width:30px;" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/icons/aarp_event_icon.png" alt="Upcoming AARP Events" /> </a> </div> <h2 class="visible-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> <h2 class="hidden-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-listing snippet"> <ul class="list"> <li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-maine-yoga-with-sea-change-yoga-november-2024-dwn5382699b.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-CLASS-IN-GENTLE-CHAIR-YOGA">A Virtual Class in Gentle Chair Yoga</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/fitness-friday-strength-conditioning-112224-lfnfsg5wz8g.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-FITNESS-FRIDAY-A-STRENGTH-CONDITIONING-WORKOUT-FOR-ALL">Fitness Friday: A Strength & Conditioning Workout for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-co-virtual-hatha-yoga-with-teri-mullen-online-co-111-12132024-46n842qg24q.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-HATHA-YOGA-CLASS-FOR-ALL">A Virtual Hatha Yoga Class for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li> </ul> <p><a class="link-red" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS">View All AARP Events<i class="ml-1 fas fa-chevron-right"></i></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_53475" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_53475', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="card-tout card-dark membership-tout" style="margin:0 0 30px 0;"> <img class="img-responsive image" title="image of two AARP membership cards" alt="image of two AARP membership cards" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/tout-two-cards.png"> <div class="title">Only $12 your first year with Automatic Renewal</div> <ul class="list"> <li>Immediate access to your <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/">member benefits</a></li> <li>Discounts on travel and everyday savings</li> <li>Subscription to AARP The Magazine</li> <li>FREE second membership</li> </ul> <div class="action"> <a class="btn" href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/join?campaignid=UAJFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Join AARP</a> <div class="body">Already a member? <a href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/renew?campaignid= UARFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Renew</a> or <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/my-membership/print-your-card/">Print Card</a></div> </div> </div> <style> .membership-tout {padding:16px 20px;} .membership-tout .list li { margin: 0; } </style> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_93505" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_93505', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer text-center"> <div class="fb-page" alt="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" title="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" data-tabs="timeline" width="320" height="" data-small-header="false" data-adapt-container-width="true" data-hide-cover="false" data-show-facepile="true" lazy="true"> <blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota">Facebook</a></blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <h2>Contact AARP <br />in Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-quick-list module-spacer"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-envelope" alt="Email icon" title="Email icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:SDAARP@aarp.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDAARP@aarp.org</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-globe" alt="Globe icon" title="Globe icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/region/south-dakota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AARP South Dakota</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-map-marker" alt="Map Marker icon" title="Map Marker icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/contact-aarp-south-dakota/?intcmp=SNG-LNK-AARPLOCAL-CONTACT-20140101-HILLCITY-SD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact Us</a></li> </ul> </div> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Facebook"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/facebook-dreamstale25.png" alt="Facebook icon" title="Facebook icon"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/aarpsd" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Twitter"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/x-logo-black.png" alt="Twitter icon" title="Twitter icon"></a> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail left-bot"></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail right-bot thin-rhs"></div> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-12"><!-- script to activate navbar --> <script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(".channelBarMain ul.left li a").click(function() { window.location = jQuery(this).attr('href'); }); </script> </div> </div> ' $scripts_for_layout = '<title>1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD</title> <meta name="page_title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD"/> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/> <meta content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural" name="description"/> <meta content="1880, Train, Black, Hills, Central, Railroad, Hill, City, SD" name="keywords"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.americantowns.com/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://vccstaging.local.aarp.org/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="og:type" content="place"/> <meta property="og:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta property="og:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="place:location:latitude" content="43.932598"/> <meta property="place:location:longitude" content="-103.572998"/> ' $title_for_layout = 'Place Detail - AARP' $asset_version = '230831' $min = true $nowrapper = false $css = '' $highlighting = '<span class="highlighting">Highlighting Hill City </span>' $location = '<a href="/hill-city-sd/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HOME">Black Hills, SD</a>' $no_header = false $header_title = '<a href="/hill-city-sd/things-to-do/">Places</a>' $header_subtitle = '' $isPR = false $navbar = '<nav class="section" role="button" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="collapse"> <div class="section-toggle">Sections <i class="fas fa-chevron-down"></i></div> <ul class="secondary-menu" id="secondary-menu" role="menu" aria-busy="true"> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-OLE" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-EVENTS">Online & Local Events</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class="active"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/things-to-do/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-TTD" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-THINGSTODO">Things to Do</a></li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/happenings/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-NF" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HAPPENINGS">News Feed</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/volunteering/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-VOL" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-VOLUNTEERING">Volunteering</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HC" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HC">Home & Community</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/movies/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-MFG" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MOVIESFORGROWNUPS">Movies for Grownups</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class="more nosep " id="submenu-more"> <span role="menuitem" class="menuitem" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MORE">More<i class="fas fa-chevron-down"></i></span> <ul class="secondary-submenu animate slide-in" id="secondary-submenu"> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/discounts/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-LO" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-OFFERS">Local Offers</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/local-resources/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-LR" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-LOCALRESOURCES">Local Resources</a> </li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/jobs/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-WJ" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-WORK&JOBS">Work & Jobs</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/events/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-CC" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-EVENTS">Community Calendar</a></li> <!-- <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/healthy-living/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HEALTHY_LIVING" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HEALTHY_LIVING">Healthy Living</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/arts-entertainment/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-ARTS_ENT" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-ARTS_ENT">Arts & Entertainment</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/museums/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-MUSEUMS" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MUSEUMS">Museums</a></li> --> </ul> </li> </ul> </nav>' $header_custom = '' $breadcrumbs = array( (int) 0 => array( 'title' => 'Things to Do', 'slug' => 'things-to-do' ) ) $row = array( 'title' => 'Back to Things to Do', 'slug' => 'things-to-do' ) $i = (int) 0include - APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 243 include - APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 243 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::renderLayout() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 546 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 481 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 963 AppController::renderPage() - APP/Controller/AppController.php, line 136 PlacesController::display() - APP/Controller/PlacesController.php, line 501 ReflectionMethod::invokeArgs() - [internal], line ?? Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 491 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 193 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 118
Warning (2): include() [<a href='http://php.net/function.include'>function.include</a>]: Failed opening '/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/app/Resource/aarp2_master.bodyTargeting.html' for inclusion (include_path='/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/lib:.:/usr/share/pear:/usr/share/php') [APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 243]Code Context<?php if (!$nowrapper): // MLW - Spanish wrappers TBDinclude (APP . "Resource/aarp2_master.footer.html");include (APP . "Resource/aarp2_master.bodyTargeting.html");$viewFile = '/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/app/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'content_for_layout' => '<div class="row twoColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail"><div class="module clearfix"><div class="ar-basic-box"> <div class="module-spacer"> <header><h1 class="article-headline">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</h1></header> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6 left module-spacer"> <p> <div> <div>222 Railroad Ave.</div> <div> <span>Hill City</span>, <span>SD</span> <span>57745</span> </div> </div> </p> <div> <i class="fa fa-external-link-square"></i> <a href="http://www.1880train.com/" target="_blank">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 module-spacer"> <iframe width="100%" height="220" frameborder="0" style="border:0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyCU5aZylcrTOLke9e3U0F2mXovlZ4bL8yk&q=1880+Train%2C+Black+Hills+Central+Railroad%2C+222+Railroad+Ave.%2C+Hill+City%2C+SD+57745" allowfullscreen> </iframe> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer clearfix"> <p>History </p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills.</p> <p></p> <p>In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.</p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory.</p> <p></p> <p>team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.</p> <p></p> <p>The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line."</p> <p></p> <p>In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.</p> <p></p> <p>In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too."</p> <p></p> <p>During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."</p> <p></p> <p>On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.</p> <p></p> <p>Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.</p> <p></p> </div> <div class="reportthis" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <form method="post" action="/hill-city-sd/report/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"> <button type="submit" class="btn btnregister pull-right" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Flag This Place</button> </form> </div> <div class="report_button_message">Please use "Flag This Place" to alert us about content that is inappropriate or needs immediate attention. Nothing you submit will be shared with other site visitors. </div> <style> .report_button_message { color: #333; font-size: 12px; clear: both; } </style> </div> </div> </div><div class="module clearfix"><div class="module-spacer tout-homefit-750"> <a data-formelementid="CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024"><img class="img-responsive" alt="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" title="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/touts/HomeFit_750x150.png"></a> </div></div></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail thin-rhs"><div class="module clearfix"><!--default--> <!-- module_RHS - AARP Events --> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <div class="pull-right"> <a href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS"> <img style="width:30px;" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/icons/aarp_event_icon.png" alt="Upcoming AARP Events" /> </a> </div> <h2 class="visible-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> <h2 class="hidden-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-listing snippet"> <ul class="list"> <li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-maine-yoga-with-sea-change-yoga-november-2024-dwn5382699b.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-CLASS-IN-GENTLE-CHAIR-YOGA">A Virtual Class in Gentle Chair Yoga</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/fitness-friday-strength-conditioning-112224-lfnfsg5wz8g.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-FITNESS-FRIDAY-A-STRENGTH-CONDITIONING-WORKOUT-FOR-ALL">Fitness Friday: A Strength & Conditioning Workout for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-co-virtual-hatha-yoga-with-teri-mullen-online-co-111-12132024-46n842qg24q.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-HATHA-YOGA-CLASS-FOR-ALL">A Virtual Hatha Yoga Class for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li> </ul> <p><a class="link-red" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS">View All AARP Events<i class="ml-1 fas fa-chevron-right"></i></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_53475" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_53475', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="card-tout card-dark membership-tout" style="margin:0 0 30px 0;"> <img class="img-responsive image" title="image of two AARP membership cards" alt="image of two AARP membership cards" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/tout-two-cards.png"> <div class="title">Only $12 your first year with Automatic Renewal</div> <ul class="list"> <li>Immediate access to your <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/">member benefits</a></li> <li>Discounts on travel and everyday savings</li> <li>Subscription to AARP The Magazine</li> <li>FREE second membership</li> </ul> <div class="action"> <a class="btn" href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/join?campaignid=UAJFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Join AARP</a> <div class="body">Already a member? <a href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/renew?campaignid= UARFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Renew</a> or <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/my-membership/print-your-card/">Print Card</a></div> </div> </div> <style> .membership-tout {padding:16px 20px;} .membership-tout .list li { margin: 0; } </style> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_93505" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_93505', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer text-center"> <div class="fb-page" alt="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" title="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" data-tabs="timeline" width="320" height="" data-small-header="false" data-adapt-container-width="true" data-hide-cover="false" data-show-facepile="true" lazy="true"> <blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota">Facebook</a></blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <h2>Contact AARP <br />in Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-quick-list module-spacer"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-envelope" alt="Email icon" title="Email icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:SDAARP@aarp.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDAARP@aarp.org</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-globe" alt="Globe icon" title="Globe icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/region/south-dakota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AARP South Dakota</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-map-marker" alt="Map Marker icon" title="Map Marker icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/contact-aarp-south-dakota/?intcmp=SNG-LNK-AARPLOCAL-CONTACT-20140101-HILLCITY-SD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact Us</a></li> </ul> </div> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Facebook"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/facebook-dreamstale25.png" alt="Facebook icon" title="Facebook icon"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/aarpsd" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Twitter"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/x-logo-black.png" alt="Twitter icon" title="Twitter icon"></a> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail left-bot"></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail right-bot thin-rhs"></div> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-12"><!-- script to activate navbar --> <script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(".channelBarMain ul.left li a").click(function() { window.location = jQuery(this).attr('href'); }); </script> </div> </div> ', 'scripts_for_layout' => '<title>1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD</title> <meta name="page_title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD"/> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/> <meta content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural" name="description"/> <meta content="1880, Train, Black, Hills, Central, Railroad, Hill, City, SD" name="keywords"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.americantowns.com/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://vccstaging.local.aarp.org/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="og:type" content="place"/> <meta property="og:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta property="og:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="place:location:latitude" content="43.932598"/> <meta property="place:location:longitude" content="-103.572998"/> ', 'title_for_layout' => 'Place Detail - AARP' ) $content_for_layout = '<div class="row twoColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail"><div class="module clearfix"><div class="ar-basic-box"> <div class="module-spacer"> <header><h1 class="article-headline">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</h1></header> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6 left module-spacer"> <p> <div> <div>222 Railroad Ave.</div> <div> <span>Hill City</span>, <span>SD</span> <span>57745</span> </div> </div> </p> <div> <i class="fa fa-external-link-square"></i> <a href="http://www.1880train.com/" target="_blank">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 module-spacer"> <iframe width="100%" height="220" frameborder="0" style="border:0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyCU5aZylcrTOLke9e3U0F2mXovlZ4bL8yk&q=1880+Train%2C+Black+Hills+Central+Railroad%2C+222+Railroad+Ave.%2C+Hill+City%2C+SD+57745" allowfullscreen> </iframe> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer clearfix"> <p>History </p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills.</p> <p></p> <p>In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.</p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory.</p> <p></p> <p>team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.</p> <p></p> <p>The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line."</p> <p></p> <p>In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.</p> <p></p> <p>In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too."</p> <p></p> <p>During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."</p> <p></p> <p>On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.</p> <p></p> <p>Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.</p> <p></p> </div> <div class="reportthis" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <form method="post" action="/hill-city-sd/report/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"> <button type="submit" class="btn btnregister pull-right" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Flag This Place</button> </form> </div> <div class="report_button_message">Please use "Flag This Place" to alert us about content that is inappropriate or needs immediate attention. Nothing you submit will be shared with other site visitors. </div> <style> .report_button_message { color: #333; font-size: 12px; clear: both; } </style> </div> </div> </div><div class="module clearfix"><div class="module-spacer tout-homefit-750"> <a data-formelementid="CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024"><img class="img-responsive" alt="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" title="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/touts/HomeFit_750x150.png"></a> </div></div></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail thin-rhs"><div class="module clearfix"><!--default--> <!-- module_RHS - AARP Events --> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <div class="pull-right"> <a href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS"> <img style="width:30px;" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/icons/aarp_event_icon.png" alt="Upcoming AARP Events" /> </a> </div> <h2 class="visible-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> <h2 class="hidden-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-listing snippet"> <ul class="list"> <li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-maine-yoga-with-sea-change-yoga-november-2024-dwn5382699b.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-CLASS-IN-GENTLE-CHAIR-YOGA">A Virtual Class in Gentle Chair Yoga</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/fitness-friday-strength-conditioning-112224-lfnfsg5wz8g.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-FITNESS-FRIDAY-A-STRENGTH-CONDITIONING-WORKOUT-FOR-ALL">Fitness Friday: A Strength & Conditioning Workout for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-co-virtual-hatha-yoga-with-teri-mullen-online-co-111-12132024-46n842qg24q.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-HATHA-YOGA-CLASS-FOR-ALL">A Virtual Hatha Yoga Class for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li> </ul> <p><a class="link-red" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS">View All AARP Events<i class="ml-1 fas fa-chevron-right"></i></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_53475" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_53475', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="card-tout card-dark membership-tout" style="margin:0 0 30px 0;"> <img class="img-responsive image" title="image of two AARP membership cards" alt="image of two AARP membership cards" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/tout-two-cards.png"> <div class="title">Only $12 your first year with Automatic Renewal</div> <ul class="list"> <li>Immediate access to your <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/">member benefits</a></li> <li>Discounts on travel and everyday savings</li> <li>Subscription to AARP The Magazine</li> <li>FREE second membership</li> </ul> <div class="action"> <a class="btn" href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/join?campaignid=UAJFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Join AARP</a> <div class="body">Already a member? <a href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/renew?campaignid= UARFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Renew</a> or <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/my-membership/print-your-card/">Print Card</a></div> </div> </div> <style> .membership-tout {padding:16px 20px;} .membership-tout .list li { margin: 0; } </style> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_93505" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_93505', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer text-center"> <div class="fb-page" alt="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" title="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" data-tabs="timeline" width="320" height="" data-small-header="false" data-adapt-container-width="true" data-hide-cover="false" data-show-facepile="true" lazy="true"> <blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota">Facebook</a></blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <h2>Contact AARP <br />in Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-quick-list module-spacer"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-envelope" alt="Email icon" title="Email icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:SDAARP@aarp.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDAARP@aarp.org</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-globe" alt="Globe icon" title="Globe icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/region/south-dakota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AARP South Dakota</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-map-marker" alt="Map Marker icon" title="Map Marker icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/contact-aarp-south-dakota/?intcmp=SNG-LNK-AARPLOCAL-CONTACT-20140101-HILLCITY-SD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact Us</a></li> </ul> </div> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Facebook"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/facebook-dreamstale25.png" alt="Facebook icon" title="Facebook icon"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/aarpsd" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Twitter"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/x-logo-black.png" alt="Twitter icon" title="Twitter icon"></a> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail left-bot"></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail right-bot thin-rhs"></div> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-12"><!-- script to activate navbar --> <script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(".channelBarMain ul.left li a").click(function() { window.location = jQuery(this).attr('href'); }); </script> </div> </div> ' $scripts_for_layout = '<title>1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD</title> <meta name="page_title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD"/> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/> <meta content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural" name="description"/> <meta content="1880, Train, Black, Hills, Central, Railroad, Hill, City, SD" name="keywords"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.americantowns.com/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://vccstaging.local.aarp.org/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="og:type" content="place"/> <meta property="og:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta property="og:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="place:location:latitude" content="43.932598"/> <meta property="place:location:longitude" content="-103.572998"/> ' $title_for_layout = 'Place Detail - AARP' $asset_version = '230831' $min = true $nowrapper = false $css = '' $highlighting = '<span class="highlighting">Highlighting Hill City </span>' $location = '<a href="/hill-city-sd/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HOME">Black Hills, SD</a>' $no_header = false $header_title = '<a href="/hill-city-sd/things-to-do/">Places</a>' $header_subtitle = '' $isPR = false $navbar = '<nav class="section" role="button" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="collapse"> <div class="section-toggle">Sections <i class="fas fa-chevron-down"></i></div> <ul class="secondary-menu" id="secondary-menu" role="menu" aria-busy="true"> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-OLE" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-EVENTS">Online & Local Events</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class="active"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/things-to-do/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-TTD" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-THINGSTODO">Things to Do</a></li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/happenings/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-NF" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HAPPENINGS">News Feed</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/volunteering/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-VOL" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-VOLUNTEERING">Volunteering</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HC" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HC">Home & Community</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/movies/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-MFG" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MOVIESFORGROWNUPS">Movies for Grownups</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class="more nosep " id="submenu-more"> <span role="menuitem" class="menuitem" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MORE">More<i class="fas fa-chevron-down"></i></span> <ul class="secondary-submenu animate slide-in" id="secondary-submenu"> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/discounts/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-LO" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-OFFERS">Local Offers</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/local-resources/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-LR" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-LOCALRESOURCES">Local Resources</a> </li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/jobs/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-WJ" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-WORK&JOBS">Work & Jobs</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/events/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-CC" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-EVENTS">Community Calendar</a></li> <!-- <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/healthy-living/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HEALTHY_LIVING" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HEALTHY_LIVING">Healthy Living</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/arts-entertainment/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-ARTS_ENT" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-ARTS_ENT">Arts & Entertainment</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/museums/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-MUSEUMS" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MUSEUMS">Museums</a></li> --> </ul> </li> </ul> </nav>' $header_custom = '' $breadcrumbs = array( (int) 0 => array( 'title' => 'Things to Do', 'slug' => 'things-to-do' ) ) $row = array( 'title' => 'Back to Things to Do', 'slug' => 'things-to-do' ) $i = (int) 0include - APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 243 include - APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 243 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::renderLayout() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 546 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 481 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 963 AppController::renderPage() - APP/Controller/AppController.php, line 136 PlacesController::display() - APP/Controller/PlacesController.php, line 501 ReflectionMethod::invokeArgs() - [internal], line ?? Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 491 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 193 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 118
Warning (2): include(/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/app/Resource/aarp2_master.resource.footer.root.html) [<a href='http://php.net/function.include'>function.include</a>]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory [APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 244]Code Contextinclude (APP . "Resource/aarp2_master.footer.html");include (APP . "Resource/aarp2_master.bodyTargeting.html");include (APP . "Resource/aarp2_master.resource.footer.root.html");$viewFile = '/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/app/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'content_for_layout' => '<div class="row twoColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail"><div class="module clearfix"><div class="ar-basic-box"> <div class="module-spacer"> <header><h1 class="article-headline">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</h1></header> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6 left module-spacer"> <p> <div> <div>222 Railroad Ave.</div> <div> <span>Hill City</span>, <span>SD</span> <span>57745</span> </div> </div> </p> <div> <i class="fa fa-external-link-square"></i> <a href="http://www.1880train.com/" target="_blank">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 module-spacer"> <iframe width="100%" height="220" frameborder="0" style="border:0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyCU5aZylcrTOLke9e3U0F2mXovlZ4bL8yk&q=1880+Train%2C+Black+Hills+Central+Railroad%2C+222+Railroad+Ave.%2C+Hill+City%2C+SD+57745" allowfullscreen> </iframe> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer clearfix"> <p>History </p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills.</p> <p></p> <p>In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.</p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory.</p> <p></p> <p>team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.</p> <p></p> <p>The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line."</p> <p></p> <p>In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.</p> <p></p> <p>In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too."</p> <p></p> <p>During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."</p> <p></p> <p>On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.</p> <p></p> <p>Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.</p> <p></p> </div> <div class="reportthis" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <form method="post" action="/hill-city-sd/report/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"> <button type="submit" class="btn btnregister pull-right" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Flag This Place</button> </form> </div> <div class="report_button_message">Please use "Flag This Place" to alert us about content that is inappropriate or needs immediate attention. Nothing you submit will be shared with other site visitors. </div> <style> .report_button_message { color: #333; font-size: 12px; clear: both; } </style> </div> </div> </div><div class="module clearfix"><div class="module-spacer tout-homefit-750"> <a data-formelementid="CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024"><img class="img-responsive" alt="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" title="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/touts/HomeFit_750x150.png"></a> </div></div></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail thin-rhs"><div class="module clearfix"><!--default--> <!-- module_RHS - AARP Events --> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <div class="pull-right"> <a href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS"> <img style="width:30px;" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/icons/aarp_event_icon.png" alt="Upcoming AARP Events" /> </a> </div> <h2 class="visible-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> <h2 class="hidden-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-listing snippet"> <ul class="list"> <li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-maine-yoga-with-sea-change-yoga-november-2024-dwn5382699b.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-CLASS-IN-GENTLE-CHAIR-YOGA">A Virtual Class in Gentle Chair Yoga</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/fitness-friday-strength-conditioning-112224-lfnfsg5wz8g.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-FITNESS-FRIDAY-A-STRENGTH-CONDITIONING-WORKOUT-FOR-ALL">Fitness Friday: A Strength & Conditioning Workout for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-co-virtual-hatha-yoga-with-teri-mullen-online-co-111-12132024-46n842qg24q.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-HATHA-YOGA-CLASS-FOR-ALL">A Virtual Hatha Yoga Class for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li> </ul> <p><a class="link-red" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS">View All AARP Events<i class="ml-1 fas fa-chevron-right"></i></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_53475" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_53475', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="card-tout card-dark membership-tout" style="margin:0 0 30px 0;"> <img class="img-responsive image" title="image of two AARP membership cards" alt="image of two AARP membership cards" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/tout-two-cards.png"> <div class="title">Only $12 your first year with Automatic Renewal</div> <ul class="list"> <li>Immediate access to your <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/">member benefits</a></li> <li>Discounts on travel and everyday savings</li> <li>Subscription to AARP The Magazine</li> <li>FREE second membership</li> </ul> <div class="action"> <a class="btn" href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/join?campaignid=UAJFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Join AARP</a> <div class="body">Already a member? <a href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/renew?campaignid= UARFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Renew</a> or <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/my-membership/print-your-card/">Print Card</a></div> </div> </div> <style> .membership-tout {padding:16px 20px;} .membership-tout .list li { margin: 0; } </style> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_93505" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_93505', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer text-center"> <div class="fb-page" alt="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" title="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" data-tabs="timeline" width="320" height="" data-small-header="false" data-adapt-container-width="true" data-hide-cover="false" data-show-facepile="true" lazy="true"> <blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota">Facebook</a></blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <h2>Contact AARP <br />in Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-quick-list module-spacer"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-envelope" alt="Email icon" title="Email icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:SDAARP@aarp.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDAARP@aarp.org</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-globe" alt="Globe icon" title="Globe icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/region/south-dakota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AARP South Dakota</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-map-marker" alt="Map Marker icon" title="Map Marker icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/contact-aarp-south-dakota/?intcmp=SNG-LNK-AARPLOCAL-CONTACT-20140101-HILLCITY-SD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact Us</a></li> </ul> </div> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Facebook"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/facebook-dreamstale25.png" alt="Facebook icon" title="Facebook icon"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/aarpsd" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Twitter"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/x-logo-black.png" alt="Twitter icon" title="Twitter icon"></a> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail left-bot"></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail right-bot thin-rhs"></div> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-12"><!-- script to activate navbar --> <script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(".channelBarMain ul.left li a").click(function() { window.location = jQuery(this).attr('href'); }); </script> </div> </div> ', 'scripts_for_layout' => '<title>1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD</title> <meta name="page_title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD"/> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/> <meta content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural" name="description"/> <meta content="1880, Train, Black, Hills, Central, Railroad, Hill, City, SD" name="keywords"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.americantowns.com/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://vccstaging.local.aarp.org/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="og:type" content="place"/> <meta property="og:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta property="og:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="place:location:latitude" content="43.932598"/> <meta property="place:location:longitude" content="-103.572998"/> ', 'title_for_layout' => 'Place Detail - AARP' ) $content_for_layout = '<div class="row twoColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail"><div class="module clearfix"><div class="ar-basic-box"> <div class="module-spacer"> <header><h1 class="article-headline">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</h1></header> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6 left module-spacer"> <p> <div> <div>222 Railroad Ave.</div> <div> <span>Hill City</span>, <span>SD</span> <span>57745</span> </div> </div> </p> <div> <i class="fa fa-external-link-square"></i> <a href="http://www.1880train.com/" target="_blank">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 module-spacer"> <iframe width="100%" height="220" frameborder="0" style="border:0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyCU5aZylcrTOLke9e3U0F2mXovlZ4bL8yk&q=1880+Train%2C+Black+Hills+Central+Railroad%2C+222+Railroad+Ave.%2C+Hill+City%2C+SD+57745" allowfullscreen> </iframe> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer clearfix"> <p>History </p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills.</p> <p></p> <p>In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.</p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory.</p> <p></p> <p>team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.</p> <p></p> <p>The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line."</p> <p></p> <p>In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.</p> <p></p> <p>In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too."</p> <p></p> <p>During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."</p> <p></p> <p>On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.</p> <p></p> <p>Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.</p> <p></p> </div> <div class="reportthis" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <form method="post" action="/hill-city-sd/report/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"> <button type="submit" class="btn btnregister pull-right" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Flag This Place</button> </form> </div> <div class="report_button_message">Please use "Flag This Place" to alert us about content that is inappropriate or needs immediate attention. Nothing you submit will be shared with other site visitors. </div> <style> .report_button_message { color: #333; font-size: 12px; clear: both; } </style> </div> </div> </div><div class="module clearfix"><div class="module-spacer tout-homefit-750"> <a data-formelementid="CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024"><img class="img-responsive" alt="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" title="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/touts/HomeFit_750x150.png"></a> </div></div></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail thin-rhs"><div class="module clearfix"><!--default--> <!-- module_RHS - AARP Events --> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <div class="pull-right"> <a href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS"> <img style="width:30px;" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/icons/aarp_event_icon.png" alt="Upcoming AARP Events" /> </a> </div> <h2 class="visible-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> <h2 class="hidden-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-listing snippet"> <ul class="list"> <li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-maine-yoga-with-sea-change-yoga-november-2024-dwn5382699b.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-CLASS-IN-GENTLE-CHAIR-YOGA">A Virtual Class in Gentle Chair Yoga</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/fitness-friday-strength-conditioning-112224-lfnfsg5wz8g.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-FITNESS-FRIDAY-A-STRENGTH-CONDITIONING-WORKOUT-FOR-ALL">Fitness Friday: A Strength & Conditioning Workout for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-co-virtual-hatha-yoga-with-teri-mullen-online-co-111-12132024-46n842qg24q.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-HATHA-YOGA-CLASS-FOR-ALL">A Virtual Hatha Yoga Class for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li> </ul> <p><a class="link-red" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS">View All AARP Events<i class="ml-1 fas fa-chevron-right"></i></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_53475" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_53475', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="card-tout card-dark membership-tout" style="margin:0 0 30px 0;"> <img class="img-responsive image" title="image of two AARP membership cards" alt="image of two AARP membership cards" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/tout-two-cards.png"> <div class="title">Only $12 your first year with Automatic Renewal</div> <ul class="list"> <li>Immediate access to your <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/">member benefits</a></li> <li>Discounts on travel and everyday savings</li> <li>Subscription to AARP The Magazine</li> <li>FREE second membership</li> </ul> <div class="action"> <a class="btn" href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/join?campaignid=UAJFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Join AARP</a> <div class="body">Already a member? <a href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/renew?campaignid= UARFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Renew</a> or <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/my-membership/print-your-card/">Print Card</a></div> </div> </div> <style> .membership-tout {padding:16px 20px;} .membership-tout .list li { margin: 0; } </style> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_93505" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_93505', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer text-center"> <div class="fb-page" alt="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" title="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" data-tabs="timeline" width="320" height="" data-small-header="false" data-adapt-container-width="true" data-hide-cover="false" data-show-facepile="true" lazy="true"> <blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota">Facebook</a></blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <h2>Contact AARP <br />in Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-quick-list module-spacer"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-envelope" alt="Email icon" title="Email icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:SDAARP@aarp.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDAARP@aarp.org</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-globe" alt="Globe icon" title="Globe icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/region/south-dakota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AARP South Dakota</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-map-marker" alt="Map Marker icon" title="Map Marker icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/contact-aarp-south-dakota/?intcmp=SNG-LNK-AARPLOCAL-CONTACT-20140101-HILLCITY-SD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact Us</a></li> </ul> </div> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Facebook"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/facebook-dreamstale25.png" alt="Facebook icon" title="Facebook icon"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/aarpsd" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Twitter"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/x-logo-black.png" alt="Twitter icon" title="Twitter icon"></a> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail left-bot"></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail right-bot thin-rhs"></div> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-12"><!-- script to activate navbar --> <script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(".channelBarMain ul.left li a").click(function() { window.location = jQuery(this).attr('href'); }); </script> </div> </div> ' $scripts_for_layout = '<title>1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD</title> <meta name="page_title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD"/> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/> <meta content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural" name="description"/> <meta content="1880, Train, Black, Hills, Central, Railroad, Hill, City, SD" name="keywords"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.americantowns.com/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://vccstaging.local.aarp.org/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="og:type" content="place"/> <meta property="og:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta property="og:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="place:location:latitude" content="43.932598"/> <meta property="place:location:longitude" content="-103.572998"/> ' $title_for_layout = 'Place Detail - AARP' $asset_version = '230831' $min = true $nowrapper = false $css = '' $highlighting = '<span class="highlighting">Highlighting Hill City </span>' $location = '<a href="/hill-city-sd/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HOME">Black Hills, SD</a>' $no_header = false $header_title = '<a href="/hill-city-sd/things-to-do/">Places</a>' $header_subtitle = '' $isPR = false $navbar = '<nav class="section" role="button" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="collapse"> <div class="section-toggle">Sections <i class="fas fa-chevron-down"></i></div> <ul class="secondary-menu" id="secondary-menu" role="menu" aria-busy="true"> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-OLE" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-EVENTS">Online & Local Events</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class="active"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/things-to-do/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-TTD" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-THINGSTODO">Things to Do</a></li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/happenings/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-NF" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HAPPENINGS">News Feed</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/volunteering/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-VOL" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-VOLUNTEERING">Volunteering</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HC" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HC">Home & Community</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/movies/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-MFG" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MOVIESFORGROWNUPS">Movies for Grownups</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class="more nosep " id="submenu-more"> <span role="menuitem" class="menuitem" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MORE">More<i class="fas fa-chevron-down"></i></span> <ul class="secondary-submenu animate slide-in" id="secondary-submenu"> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/discounts/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-LO" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-OFFERS">Local Offers</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/local-resources/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-LR" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-LOCALRESOURCES">Local Resources</a> </li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/jobs/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-WJ" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-WORK&JOBS">Work & Jobs</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/events/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-CC" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-EVENTS">Community Calendar</a></li> <!-- <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/healthy-living/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HEALTHY_LIVING" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HEALTHY_LIVING">Healthy Living</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/arts-entertainment/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-ARTS_ENT" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-ARTS_ENT">Arts & Entertainment</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/museums/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-MUSEUMS" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MUSEUMS">Museums</a></li> --> </ul> </li> </ul> </nav>' $header_custom = '' $breadcrumbs = array( (int) 0 => array( 'title' => 'Things to Do', 'slug' => 'things-to-do' ) ) $row = array( 'title' => 'Back to Things to Do', 'slug' => 'things-to-do' ) $i = (int) 0include - APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 244 include - APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 244 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::renderLayout() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 546 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 481 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 963 AppController::renderPage() - APP/Controller/AppController.php, line 136 PlacesController::display() - APP/Controller/PlacesController.php, line 501 ReflectionMethod::invokeArgs() - [internal], line ?? Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 491 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 193 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 118
Warning (2): include() [<a href='http://php.net/function.include'>function.include</a>]: Failed opening '/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/app/Resource/aarp2_master.resource.footer.root.html' for inclusion (include_path='/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/lib:.:/usr/share/pear:/usr/share/php') [APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 244]Code Contextinclude (APP . "Resource/aarp2_master.footer.html");include (APP . "Resource/aarp2_master.bodyTargeting.html");include (APP . "Resource/aarp2_master.resource.footer.root.html");$viewFile = '/var/www/vhosts/vcc_staging/app/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'content_for_layout' => '<div class="row twoColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail"><div class="module clearfix"><div class="ar-basic-box"> <div class="module-spacer"> <header><h1 class="article-headline">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</h1></header> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6 left module-spacer"> <p> <div> <div>222 Railroad Ave.</div> <div> <span>Hill City</span>, <span>SD</span> <span>57745</span> </div> </div> </p> <div> <i class="fa fa-external-link-square"></i> <a href="http://www.1880train.com/" target="_blank">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 module-spacer"> <iframe width="100%" height="220" frameborder="0" style="border:0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyCU5aZylcrTOLke9e3U0F2mXovlZ4bL8yk&q=1880+Train%2C+Black+Hills+Central+Railroad%2C+222+Railroad+Ave.%2C+Hill+City%2C+SD+57745" allowfullscreen> </iframe> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer clearfix"> <p>History </p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills.</p> <p></p> <p>In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.</p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory.</p> <p></p> <p>team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.</p> <p></p> <p>The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line."</p> <p></p> <p>In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.</p> <p></p> <p>In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too."</p> <p></p> <p>During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."</p> <p></p> <p>On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.</p> <p></p> <p>Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.</p> <p></p> </div> <div class="reportthis" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <form method="post" action="/hill-city-sd/report/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"> <button type="submit" class="btn btnregister pull-right" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Flag This Place</button> </form> </div> <div class="report_button_message">Please use "Flag This Place" to alert us about content that is inappropriate or needs immediate attention. Nothing you submit will be shared with other site visitors. </div> <style> .report_button_message { color: #333; font-size: 12px; clear: both; } </style> </div> </div> </div><div class="module clearfix"><div class="module-spacer tout-homefit-750"> <a data-formelementid="CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024"><img class="img-responsive" alt="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" title="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/touts/HomeFit_750x150.png"></a> </div></div></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail thin-rhs"><div class="module clearfix"><!--default--> <!-- module_RHS - AARP Events --> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <div class="pull-right"> <a href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS"> <img style="width:30px;" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/icons/aarp_event_icon.png" alt="Upcoming AARP Events" /> </a> </div> <h2 class="visible-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> <h2 class="hidden-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-listing snippet"> <ul class="list"> <li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-maine-yoga-with-sea-change-yoga-november-2024-dwn5382699b.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-CLASS-IN-GENTLE-CHAIR-YOGA">A Virtual Class in Gentle Chair Yoga</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/fitness-friday-strength-conditioning-112224-lfnfsg5wz8g.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-FITNESS-FRIDAY-A-STRENGTH-CONDITIONING-WORKOUT-FOR-ALL">Fitness Friday: A Strength & Conditioning Workout for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-co-virtual-hatha-yoga-with-teri-mullen-online-co-111-12132024-46n842qg24q.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-HATHA-YOGA-CLASS-FOR-ALL">A Virtual Hatha Yoga Class for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li> </ul> <p><a class="link-red" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS">View All AARP Events<i class="ml-1 fas fa-chevron-right"></i></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_53475" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_53475', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="card-tout card-dark membership-tout" style="margin:0 0 30px 0;"> <img class="img-responsive image" title="image of two AARP membership cards" alt="image of two AARP membership cards" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/tout-two-cards.png"> <div class="title">Only $12 your first year with Automatic Renewal</div> <ul class="list"> <li>Immediate access to your <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/">member benefits</a></li> <li>Discounts on travel and everyday savings</li> <li>Subscription to AARP The Magazine</li> <li>FREE second membership</li> </ul> <div class="action"> <a class="btn" href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/join?campaignid=UAJFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Join AARP</a> <div class="body">Already a member? <a href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/renew?campaignid= UARFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Renew</a> or <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/my-membership/print-your-card/">Print Card</a></div> </div> </div> <style> .membership-tout {padding:16px 20px;} .membership-tout .list li { margin: 0; } </style> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_93505" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_93505', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer text-center"> <div class="fb-page" alt="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" title="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" data-tabs="timeline" width="320" height="" data-small-header="false" data-adapt-container-width="true" data-hide-cover="false" data-show-facepile="true" lazy="true"> <blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota">Facebook</a></blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <h2>Contact AARP <br />in Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-quick-list module-spacer"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-envelope" alt="Email icon" title="Email icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:SDAARP@aarp.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDAARP@aarp.org</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-globe" alt="Globe icon" title="Globe icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/region/south-dakota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AARP South Dakota</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-map-marker" alt="Map Marker icon" title="Map Marker icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/contact-aarp-south-dakota/?intcmp=SNG-LNK-AARPLOCAL-CONTACT-20140101-HILLCITY-SD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact Us</a></li> </ul> </div> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Facebook"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/facebook-dreamstale25.png" alt="Facebook icon" title="Facebook icon"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/aarpsd" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Twitter"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/x-logo-black.png" alt="Twitter icon" title="Twitter icon"></a> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail left-bot"></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail right-bot thin-rhs"></div> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-12"><!-- script to activate navbar --> <script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(".channelBarMain ul.left li a").click(function() { window.location = jQuery(this).attr('href'); }); </script> </div> </div> ', 'scripts_for_layout' => '<title>1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD</title> <meta name="page_title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD"/> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/> <meta content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural" name="description"/> <meta content="1880, Train, Black, Hills, Central, Railroad, Hill, City, SD" name="keywords"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.americantowns.com/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://vccstaging.local.aarp.org/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="og:type" content="place"/> <meta property="og:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta property="og:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="place:location:latitude" content="43.932598"/> <meta property="place:location:longitude" content="-103.572998"/> ', 'title_for_layout' => 'Place Detail - AARP' ) $content_for_layout = '<div class="row twoColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail"><div class="module clearfix"><div class="ar-basic-box"> <div class="module-spacer"> <header><h1 class="article-headline">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</h1></header> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6 left module-spacer"> <p> <div> <div>222 Railroad Ave.</div> <div> <span>Hill City</span>, <span>SD</span> <span>57745</span> </div> </div> </p> <div> <i class="fa fa-external-link-square"></i> <a href="http://www.1880train.com/" target="_blank">1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 module-spacer"> <iframe width="100%" height="220" frameborder="0" style="border:0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyCU5aZylcrTOLke9e3U0F2mXovlZ4bL8yk&q=1880+Train%2C+Black+Hills+Central+Railroad%2C+222+Railroad+Ave.%2C+Hill+City%2C+SD+57745" allowfullscreen> </iframe> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer clearfix"> <p>History </p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural resources, and beauty, but also for characteristics nearly spiritual in nature. Time has not changed this admiration for the Black Hills.</p> <p></p> <p>In the history of American frontier experience, no other development was more influential than the railroad and its iron horses. The steel rails crisscrossed the plains, ran up into the mountains, and brought settlers and town-builders to areas that had been home to native tribes for centuries. Good or bad, the railroad was a physical manifestation of America's quest to grow and prosper.</p> <p></p> <p>The Black Hills mining boom began in 1874. Gold was discovered near the site of today's city of Custer by a member of an exploration party lead by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. By late 1877, events changing the Black Hills forever had occurred: the Battle of the Little Bighorn; major gold strikes in the Deadwood and Lead areas of the northern Black Hills; and the area was now a part of Dakota Territory.</p> <p></p> <p>team engine in the Black Hills was brought across the prairie by bull team to the Homestake Mining Company at Lead in 1879. In 1881, the Home-stake Company created the first narrow-gauge railroad in the Black Hills to haul its cargo and the public from Lead to several mining camps. In 1885, the first standard-gauge railroad reached Buffalo Gap, Dakota Territory, and was extended on into Rapid City the next year.</p> <p></p> <p>The standard-gauge Burlington branch that came to host the 1880 TRAIN's operations was built in several portions between Hill City and Keystone during the central Black Hills mining boom in the 1890s and the first month of 1900. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (hereafter referred to as the Burlington for simplicity), pushed its line into the southwestern corner of the newly-created state of South Dakota in November of 1889. In the spring of 1890, construction of this began at Edgemont as the first phase of the "High Line."</p> <p></p> <p>In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a granite mountain three miles southwest of Keystone as America's Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial.</p> <p></p> <p>In 1948, another monumental project was begun near a future route of the 1880 TRAIN. South of Hill City, a granite mountain was chosen to memorialize the Lakota Indian warrior Crazy Horse. A young sculptor named Korzak Ziolkowski and several Lakota elders proclaimed that the mountain carving would "let others know that the Indian peoples had great leaders, too."</p> <p></p> <p>During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam. After years of declining use, William B. Heckman (a public relations man with railroad experience) decided to start a railroad where steam actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. He and Robert Freer, a sales engineer of diesel locomotives in the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, organized a group who believed "there should be in operation at least one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive."</p> <p></p> <p>On the morning of August 18, 1957, the first official train operated on the Black Hills Central. Veteran Burlington engineer Earl Coupens piloted the Klondike Casey and its 2 open-air coaches away from the Burlington's vintage1890 Hill City depot; up the over four-percent grade of Tin Mill Hill and on to Oblivion. The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.</p> <p></p> <p>Fifty years after its inception, the Black Hills Central is still providing what Heckman envisioned-a place where new generations experience a steam locomotive and a way to commemorate the vital role that railroads played in the development of this country.</p> <p></p> </div> <div class="reportthis" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <form method="post" action="/hill-city-sd/report/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"> <button type="submit" class="btn btnregister pull-right" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Flag This Place</button> </form> </div> <div class="report_button_message">Please use "Flag This Place" to alert us about content that is inappropriate or needs immediate attention. Nothing you submit will be shared with other site visitors. </div> <style> .report_button_message { color: #333; font-size: 12px; clear: both; } </style> </div> </div> </div><div class="module clearfix"><div class="module-spacer tout-homefit-750"> <a data-formelementid="CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-HC-PLSK-02272024"><img class="img-responsive" alt="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" title="Explore the free AARP HomeFit Guide" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/touts/HomeFit_750x150.png"></a> </div></div></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail thin-rhs"><div class="module clearfix"><!--default--> <!-- module_RHS - AARP Events --> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <div class="pull-right"> <a href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS"> <img style="width:30px;" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/icons/aarp_event_icon.png" alt="Upcoming AARP Events" /> </a> </div> <h2 class="visible-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> <h2 class="hidden-lg">AARP Events for Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-listing snippet"> <ul class="list"> <li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-maine-yoga-with-sea-change-yoga-november-2024-dwn5382699b.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-CLASS-IN-GENTLE-CHAIR-YOGA">A Virtual Class in Gentle Chair Yoga</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/fitness-friday-strength-conditioning-112224-lfnfsg5wz8g.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-FITNESS-FRIDAY-A-STRENGTH-CONDITIONING-WORKOUT-FOR-ALL">Fitness Friday: A Strength & Conditioning Workout for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li><li class="item" data-pageindex="1"> <h2 class="title"><a href="/aarp-event/aarp-co-virtual-hatha-yoga-with-teri-mullen-online-co-111-12132024-46n842qg24q.html" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-EVENTS-A-VIRTUAL-HATHA-YOGA-CLASS-FOR-ALL">A Virtual Hatha Yoga Class for All</a></h2> <p class="time">Friday, Nov 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MT</p> <p class="venue">Zoom</p> <p class="loc">Online Event</p> </li> </ul> <p><a class="link-red" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/" data-formelementid="LOCAL-BTN-CLK-SEEALL-EVENTS">View All AARP Events<i class="ml-1 fas fa-chevron-right"></i></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_53475" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_53475', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="card-tout card-dark membership-tout" style="margin:0 0 30px 0;"> <img class="img-responsive image" title="image of two AARP membership cards" alt="image of two AARP membership cards" src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/tout-two-cards.png"> <div class="title">Only $12 your first year with Automatic Renewal</div> <ul class="list"> <li>Immediate access to your <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/">member benefits</a></li> <li>Discounts on travel and everyday savings</li> <li>Subscription to AARP The Magazine</li> <li>FREE second membership</li> </ul> <div class="action"> <a class="btn" href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/join?campaignid=UAJFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Join AARP</a> <div class="body">Already a member? <a href="https://appsec.aarp.org/mem/renew?campaignid= UARFT3&intcmp=LNK-CSN-AARPLOCAL-JRTOUT-RR-A-HILLCITY-SD">Renew</a> or <a href="https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/my-membership/print-your-card/">Print Card</a></div> </div> </div> <style> .membership-tout {padding:16px 20px;} .membership-tout .list li { margin: 0; } </style> <div aria-hidden="true" class="aarpe-ad-wrapper"> <div class="aarpe-ad en clearfix" id="300x250_93505" data-adsize="300x250"> <script type="text/javascript"> if(typeof AARP.ads !== 'undefined'){ AARP.ads.slots({ id:'300x250_93505', size:'300x250'}); } </script> </div> </div> <div class="module-spacer text-center"> <div class="fb-page" alt="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" title="Image of AARP South Dakota Facebook Page" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" data-tabs="timeline" width="320" height="" data-small-header="false" data-adapt-container-width="true" data-hide-cover="false" data-show-facepile="true" lazy="true"> <blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota">Facebook</a></blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="ar-basic-box module-spacer"> <header> <h2>Contact AARP <br />in Hill City</h2> </header> <div class="wrap"> <div class="ar-quick-list module-spacer"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-envelope" alt="Email icon" title="Email icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:SDAARP@aarp.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDAARP@aarp.org</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-globe" alt="Globe icon" title="Globe icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/region/south-dakota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AARP South Dakota</a></li> <li><i class="list-icon fa fa-map-marker" alt="Map Marker icon" title="Map Marker icon" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="https://states.aarp.org/contact-aarp-south-dakota/?intcmp=SNG-LNK-AARPLOCAL-CONTACT-20140101-HILLCITY-SD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact Us</a></li> </ul> </div> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AARPSouthDakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Facebook"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/facebook-dreamstale25.png" alt="Facebook icon" title="Facebook icon"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/aarpsd" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="Open Twitter"><img src="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/responsive/icons/48/x-logo-black.png" alt="Twitter icon" title="Twitter icon"></a> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="col-md-8 left-rail left-bot"></div> <div class="col-md-4 right-rail right-bot thin-rhs"></div> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> </div> <div class="row oneColumnLayout"> <div class="col-md-12"><!-- script to activate navbar --> <script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(".channelBarMain ul.left li a").click(function() { window.location = jQuery(this).attr('href'); }); </script> </div> </div> ' $scripts_for_layout = '<title>1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD</title> <meta name="page_title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, SD"/> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/> <meta content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural" name="description"/> <meta content="1880, Train, Black, Hills, Central, Railroad, Hill, City, SD" name="keywords"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.americantowns.com/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://vccstaging.local.aarp.org/place/1880-train-black-hills-central-railroad-hill-city-sd.html"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="og:type" content="place"/> <meta property="og:title" content="1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad"/> <meta property="og:description" content="History The Black Hills are a special place. Many cultures over the centuries have come to value the region for not only its visible wonders, natural"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn-aarp.americantowns.com/img/template/thumbs/generic-icon.jpg"/> <meta property="place:location:latitude" content="43.932598"/> <meta property="place:location:longitude" content="-103.572998"/> ' $title_for_layout = 'Place Detail - AARP' $asset_version = '230831' $min = true $nowrapper = false $css = '' $highlighting = '<span class="highlighting">Highlighting Hill City </span>' $location = '<a href="/hill-city-sd/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HOME">Black Hills, SD</a>' $no_header = false $header_title = '<a href="/hill-city-sd/things-to-do/">Places</a>' $header_subtitle = '' $isPR = false $navbar = '<nav class="section" role="button" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="collapse"> <div class="section-toggle">Sections <i class="fas fa-chevron-down"></i></div> <ul class="secondary-menu" id="secondary-menu" role="menu" aria-busy="true"> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/aarp-events/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-OLE" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-EVENTS">Online & Local Events</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class="active"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/things-to-do/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-TTD" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-THINGSTODO">Things to Do</a></li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/happenings/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-NF" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HAPPENINGS">News Feed</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/volunteering/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-VOL" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-VOLUNTEERING">Volunteering</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/home-and-community/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HC" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HC">Home & Community</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class=""><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem" href="/hill-city-sd/movies/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-MFG" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MOVIESFORGROWNUPS">Movies for Grownups</a> </li> <li role="presentation" class="more nosep " id="submenu-more"> <span role="menuitem" class="menuitem" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MORE">More<i class="fas fa-chevron-down"></i></span> <ul class="secondary-submenu animate slide-in" id="secondary-submenu"> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/discounts/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-LO" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-OFFERS">Local Offers</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/local-resources/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-LR" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-LOCALRESOURCES">Local Resources</a> </li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/jobs/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-WJ" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-WORK&JOBS">Work & Jobs</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/events/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-CC" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-EVENTS">Community Calendar</a></li> <!-- <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/healthy-living/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-HEALTHY_LIVING" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-HEALTHY_LIVING">Healthy Living</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/arts-entertainment/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-ARTS_ENT" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-ARTS_ENT">Arts & Entertainment</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a role="menuitem" class="menuitem " href="/hill-city-sd/museums/?intcmp=CSN-LOCAL-NAV-MUSEUMS" data-formelementid="LOCAL-LNK-CLK-MUSEUMS">Museums</a></li> --> </ul> </li> </ul> </nav>' $header_custom = '' $breadcrumbs = array( (int) 0 => array( 'title' => 'Things to Do', 'slug' => 'things-to-do' ) ) $row = array( 'title' => 'Back to Things to Do', 'slug' => 'things-to-do' ) $i = (int) 0include - APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 244 include - APP/View/Layouts/aarp_2023.ctp, line 244 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::renderLayout() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 546 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 481 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 963 AppController::renderPage() - APP/Controller/AppController.php, line 136 PlacesController::display() - APP/Controller/PlacesController.php, line 501 ReflectionMethod::invokeArgs() - [internal], line ?? Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 491 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 193 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 118