What are the Oldest City Streets in Sioux Falls?

Would you believe it if I told you that Sioux Falls has nearly 900 centerline miles of streets that make up and are maintained by the city?

According to the city of Sioux Falls, 84% of Sioux Falls city streets are paved with asphalt, while another 14% a covered in concrete, and 2% of city streets are unpaved.

To help illustrate the growth Sioux Falls continues to see year after year, the centerline mileage of city streets grows by nearly 10 to 15 miles per year.

READ MORE: South Dakota Population Boom: When Will We Hit 1 Million People?

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As Sioux Falls Simplified reports, Sioux Falls officially became a city in March of 1883. Prior to that, it was just a village that was incorporated back in 1876.

Back in those days, it was primitive around these parts, to say the least.

Heck, the population of Sioux Falls when it was officially declared a city was just a hair over 2100 people. We'd kill to have those commute times these days. Today, our total metropolitan area is closing in on nearly 250,000 people, and it sure feels like it when you need to navigate 41st Street on a Saturday afternoon, right?

The development of the railroad system in the late 1880s led to a real growth spurt in the Sioux Falls area.

As you can imagine, back then, the roads were just glorified dirt paths, a far cry from the multi-lane congested traffic areas we have to contend with these days.

So what were the oldest and most traveled streets when Sioux Falls first became a city?

While it's true Sioux Falls had a handful of roads when it first became a city, the oldest, and probably the most traveled official streets in the city back then, are believed to be Phillips Avenue and 9th Street. Those two streets experienced the first outbreak of buildings that were constructed in the city.

The Cataract Hotel was built at the corner of 9th and Phillips in 1871, and is the oldest building in Sioux Falls' history. It still stands to this day.

Getting back to Sioux Falls city streets...

There are over 2,000 of them in South Dakota's largest city. Here's another little fun fact: according to Street-map.us, the most popular letter to start a street name in Sioux Falls is....the letter "S".

838 different Sioux Falls city streets begin with "S".

Source: City of Sioux Falls/Sioux Falls Simplified/Street-Map.US