![Wall Drug](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Wall_Drug.jpg)
Wall Drug Store, often called simply Wall Drug, is a
roadside attraction
A roadside attraction is a feature along the side of a road meant to attract tourists. In general, these are places one might stop on the way to somewhere, rather than actually being a destination. They are frequently advertised with billboards. ...
and
tourist stop located in the town of
Wall, South Dakota
Wall ( Lakota: ''Makȟóšiča Aglágla Otȟuŋwahe'', "Town alongside the Badlands") is a town in Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 699 at the 2020 census.
History
Wall was platted in 1907 when the Chicago an ...
, adjacent to
Badlands National Park
Badlands National Park ( lkt, Makȟóšiča) is an American national park located in southwestern South Dakota. The park protects of sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles, along with the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United Sta ...
. Wall Drug consists of a collection of cowboy-themed stores, including a
drug store
A pharmacy (also called "drugstore" in American English or "community pharmacy" or "chemist" in Commonwealth English, or rarely, apothecary) is a retail shop which provides pharmaceutical drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmaci ...
,
gift shop
A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collec ...
, several
restaurants, and various other stores, as well as an art gallery and an 80-foot (24 m)
brontosaurus
''Brontosaurus'' (; meaning "thunder lizard" from Greek , "thunder" and , "lizard") is a genus of gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs. Although the type species, ''B. excelsus'', had long been considered a species of the closely related ' ...
sculpture. Unlike a traditional
shopping mall
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
, all the stores at Wall Drug operate under a single entity rather than being run individually. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' has described Wall Drug as "a sprawling tourist attraction of international renown
hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
draws some two million annual visitors to a remote town."
History
![OldWallDrugs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/OldWallDrugs.jpg)
The small town drugstore made its first step towards fame when it was purchased by Ted Hustead in 1931. Hustead was a Nebraska native and pharmacist who was looking for a small town with a
Catholic church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
in which to establish his business. He bought Wall Drug, located in a 231-person town in what he referred to as "the middle of nowhere," and strove to make a living. Business was very slow until his wife, Dorothy, thought of advertising free ice water to parched travelers heading to the newly opened
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (Lakota: ''Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe'', or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakot ...
monument to the west. From that time on, business was brisk.
Ted’s son, Bill Hustead, also a pharmacist, returned to Wall and joined the family business in 1951. Under his direction, Wall Drug grew into a
cowboy-themed mall and
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...
. He created the Art Gallery Cafe, with a design inspired by Club “21” in New York City, one of his favorite restaurants. Wall Drug includes a western art museum, a chapel based on the one found at
New Melleray Abbey
New Melleray Abbey is a Trappist monastery located near Dubuque, Iowa. The abbey is located about 15 miles southwest of Dubuque and is in the Archdiocese of Dubuque. Currently the Abbey is home to about 16 monks. Several of the monks work in the ...
near
Dubuque, Iowa
Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...
, another Bill Hustead creation, and an
brontosaurus
''Brontosaurus'' (; meaning "thunder lizard" from Greek , "thunder" and , "lizard") is a genus of gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs. Although the type species, ''B. excelsus'', had long been considered a species of the closely related ' ...
that can be seen right off
Interstate 90. It was designed by
Emmet Sullivan who also created the dinosaurs at
Dinosaur Park
Dinosaur Park is a tourist attraction in Rapid City, South Dakota, United States. Dedicated on May 22, 1936, it contains seven dinosaur sculptures on a hill overlooking the city, created to capitalize on the tourists coming to the Black Hills to s ...
in
Rapid City
Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...
and
Dinosaur World in
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
.
Bill Hustead had seven children and his oldest child, Rick Hustead, is the current proprietor of Wall Drug Store.
Marketing campaign
Wall Drug earns much of its fame from its self-promotion.
Billboards advertising the establishment can be seen for hundreds of miles throughout South Dakota and the neighboring states. In addition, many visitors of Wall Drug have erected signs throughout the world announcing the miles to Wall Drug from famous locations. By 1981 Wall Drug was claiming it was giving away 20,000 cups of water per day during the peak tourist season, lasting from
Memorial Day
Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...
until
Labor Day, and during the hottest days of the summer.
Most of Wall Drug's advertisement billboards can be found on an approximately stretch of
Interstate 90 from
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
to
Billings, Montana
Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Met ...
. The signs are created by South Dakota billboard artists, including Dobby Hansen and Barry Knutson of
Philip.
Today
![TRexWallDrug](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/TRexWallDrug.jpg)
To date, Wall Drug still offers free ice water, but as they have become more popular, they have started to offer free
bumper stickers to aid in
promotion
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
, and coffee for 5 cents. Some popular free bumper stickers read "Where the heck is Wall Drug?" and "Have You Dug Wall Drug?".
Wall Drug has over 300 original oil paintings in the Western art Gallery Dining Rooms. This acquisition represents one of the best private collections of original Western and Illustration Art in the country. Artists featured include
N. C. Wyeth,
Harvey Dunn
Harvey Thomas Dunn NA (March 8, 1884 – October 29, 1952) was an American painter and teacher. He is best known for his prairie-intimate masterpiece, ''The Prairie is My Garden'' (1950). In this painting, a mother and her two children ar ...
,
Dean Cornwell
Dean may refer to:
People
* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
* Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk
* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
Titles
* ...
,
Louis Glanzman, and
Harold Von Schmidt.
When the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
was still operating
Minuteman missile
The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. , the LGM-30G Minuteman III version is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States and re ...
silos in the western South Dakota plains, Wall Drug used to offer free coffee and donuts to service personnel if they stopped in on their way to or from
Ellsworth Air Force Base ( west on Interstate 90). Wall Drug continues to offer free coffee and donuts to active military personnel.
Ted Hustead died in 1999. The following day, South Dakota Governor
Bill Janklow began his annual
State of the State address The State of the State Address is a speech customarily given once each year by the governors of each of the states of the United States, although the terminology for this speech differs for some states: in Iowa, the speech is called the Condition of ...
by commemorating Hustead as "a guy that figured out that free ice water could turn you into a phenomenal success in the middle of a semi-arid desert way out in the middle of someplace."
Media references
*In 1981, Wall Drug was featured in
''Time'' magazine as one of the largest tourist attractions in the north.
*In his 1989 book ''
The Lost Continent'',
Bill Bryson
William McGuire Bryson (; born 8 December 1951) is an American–British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has b ...
wrote, "It's an awful place, one of the world's worst
tourist trap
A tourist trap is an establishment (or group of establishments) that has been created or re-purposed with the aim of attracting tourists and their money. Tourist traps will typically provide overpriced services, entertainment, food, souveni ...
s, but I loved it and I won't have a word said against it."
[
]
*The history of Wall Drug was told in a two-episode story arc of the podcast ''
The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd''.
*In 2016 ''
Z Nation
''Z Nation'' is an American horror television series that aired on Syfy, created by Karl Schaefer and Craig Engler, and was produced by The Asylum. The first season of 13 episodes premiered on September 12, 2014. ''Z Nation'' was filmed in t ...
'' featured Wall Drug in season 3, episode 8.
*The 2020 film ''
Nomadland'' features scenes where the main characters work at Wall Drug, and later visit the dinosaur statue.
Gallery
Image:2006-07-27_-_17_-_Road_Trip_-_Day_04_-_United_States_-_South_Dakota_-_Wall_Drug_-_Cowboy_Orchestra.jpg, The Wall Drug Cowboy Orchestra
Image:Wall_Drug_Sign.jpg, A typical Wall Drug billboard
Image:Soldier Stand by Wall Drug Sign.jpg, Sign in Afghanistan
Image:Wall_Drug_9333_Miles.jpg, Wall Drug sign in Antarctica – Free Ice Water, 9,333 miles
Image:Wall_drug_jackalope.jpg, Wall Drug Jackalope
The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns. The word ''jackalope'' is a portmanteau of ''jackrabbit'' and ''antelope''. Many jackalope taxidermy mounts, including the original, ...
, man for size reference
Image:Wall South Dakota Community Library.jpg, The Wall, South Dakota Community Library.
Further reading
*
See also
*
South of the Border, a similar attraction off
Interstate 95 in South Carolina
Interstate 95 (I-95) is a major Interstate Highway, running along the East Coast of the United States from Florida to Maine. In South Carolina, I-95 runs approximately parallel to the Atlantic Ocean shore although about inland, from Hard ...
, just south of the border with
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
*
Badlands National Park
Badlands National Park ( lkt, Makȟóšiča) is an American national park located in southwestern South Dakota. The park protects of sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles, along with the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United Sta ...
*
Breezewood, Pennsylvania
Breezewood is an unincorporated town in East Providence Township, Bedford County in south-central Pennsylvania.
Along a traditional pathway for Native Americans, European settlers, and British troops during colonial times, in the early 20th ce ...
*
Uranus, Missouri
References
External links
www.walldrug.comnbsp;— Wall Drug site
{{Coord, 43.993231, -102.241795, display=title
Roadside attractions in South Dakota
Buildings and structures in Pennington County, South Dakota
Pharmacies of the United States
Landmarks in South Dakota
Restaurants in South Dakota
American companies established in 1931
Retail companies established in 1931
1931 establishments in South Dakota
Tourist attractions in Pennington County, South Dakota
Health care companies based in South Dakota
South Dakota culture