Fort Meade (South Dakota)
Fort Meade, originally known as Camp Sturgis and later Camp Ruhlen, is a former United States Army post located just east of Sturgis, South Dakota, United States. The fort was active from 1878 to 1944; the cantonment is currently home to a Veterans Health Administration hospital and South Dakota Army National Guard training facilities. Much of the former reservation is now managed by the Bureau of Land Management as the Fort Meade Recreation Area. It is also home of Fort Meade National Cemetery. Fort Meade was established in 1878 to protect illegal white settlements on the Great Sioux Reservation in the northern Black Hills, especially the nearby gold mining area around Deadwood. Several stage and freighting routes passed through Fort Meade en route to Deadwood.
Fort Meade commanding officer's house, now the museum, 2007
Birds-eye view of Fort Meade, 1888
"Star Spangled Banner" historic marker
Comanche in 1876
Sturgis is a city in Meade County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 7,020 as of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Meade County and is named after Samuel D. Sturgis, a Union general during the Civil War.
View over Sturgis in early 2014
Ox teams in Sturgis, circa 1887 to 1892
Motorbikes on Main Street during Bike Week