What to See in Sioux Falls - Top Sights and Attractions

Animals in habitats and in displays. The Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum of Natural History is a 45-acre zoo and museum located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. The Delbridge Museum of Natural History displays 150 mounted animals, including 38 "vanishing species". The Great Plains Zoo is owned and operated through a partnership between the City of Sioux Falls and the Zoological Society. The City of Sioux Falls owns the infrastructure, land, and all assets associated with the Zoo and Museum and maintains the grounds. The Zoological Society of Sioux Falls, a non-profit, operates the facility, manages the animal collection, and maintains the grounds within the exhibit. The mid-sized Great Plains Zoo was awarded the "Quarter Century Award" by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in 2016, marking 25 years of continuous accreditation.^[2]

Courthouse. The Old Minnehaha County Courthouse, located at Main Avenue and 6th Street in Sioux Falls, is the former county courthouse of Minnehaha County, South Dakota. The courthouse, which was the seat of county government from 1890 to 1962, is one of the oldest buildings in Sioux Falls. The Romanesque Revival building was built from locally quarried quartzite, a common building material in Sioux Falls at the time. The three-story building features a tall clock tower over the front entrance. The building's doorways are surrounded by Roman archways; the second- and third-story windows are also arched, while the first-story windows are rectangular. The attic windows have decorative dormers aligned with the front walls.

The courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 10, 1973.^[5]

The Hotel on Phillips is a hotel at 100 N. Phillips Ave. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It is located in the former Sioux Falls National Bank building, a skyscraper built in 1917, during World War I. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as "Sioux Falls National Bank Building". The property has also been known as the 100 North Phillips Building.

It was the tallest building in the state of South Dakota when it was built, and remained the tallest when it was listed on the National Register. (In 2019, the tallest is the CenturyLink Tower, also in Sioux Falls, built in 1986.)

It has been termed Sullivanesque. It was designed by architects Weary & Alford of Chicago. It was built by builders Pike & Cook of Minneapolis.

The hotel has been included by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in its Historic Hotels of America program since 2019.

According to the Historic Hotels of America program, "The lead architect for the project was Oscar Wentworth, a former director of the Office of the Supervising Architect of the United States Government. With help from the contracting company Pike & Cook, Wentworth spent the next year developing the nine-story skyscraper with designs inspired by the architectural aesthetics of the visionary John Sullivan. The building today stands as the only remaining example of this unique brand of architecture—known as Sulluvanesque—in all of Sioux Falls."^[9]

Bridge in Sioux Falls. The Eighth Street Bridge in Sioux Falls, South Dakota brings S. Eighth St. over the Big Sioux River. It is a triple-arch concrete deck arch bridge that was built in 1912 by N.M. Stark and Company. It has also been known as South Dakota Dept. of Transportation Bridge No. 50-203-206. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.

Its NRHP nomination notes that it has a four-lane roadway and rests on piers that "are protected by pointed cutwaters with conical caps." The roadway is "flanked by sidewalks and concrete railings with neoclassically detailed balustrades. The railings mark the position of each pier with an elegant, fluted cast-iron light stand ornamented with consoles at the base."

Restoration work on the bridge was done in 1977.^[11]

Tourist attraction in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Queen Bee Mill is a ruined mill complex located in Falls Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The mill was built between 1879 and 1881 under the guidance of politician Richard F. Pettigrew, who believed that Sioux Falls could harness the power of the Big Sioux River for local industry. When it opened in 1881, the mill could process 1200 barrels of grain per day, and its elevator could hold 130,000 bushels; it also had connections to all five of the city's rail lines. Business at the mill could never meet its capacity, however, and it closed only two years after it opened due to bankruptcy. The mill passed through several owners after it closed; while several attempted to reopen it, none succeeded, and the building eventually became a warehouse. A fire destroyed the complex in 1956; the foundations of the mill and grain elevator are all that remain at the site.

The mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 1, 1984.^[12]