Misplaced Pages

Rapid City Fruit Company

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
United States historic place
Rapid City Fruit Company
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Rapid City Fruit Company building in 2017
Rapid City Fruit Company is located in South DakotaRapid City Fruit CompanyShow map of South DakotaRapid City Fruit Company is located in the United StatesRapid City Fruit CompanyShow map of the United States
Location320 7th St., Rapid City, South Dakota
Coordinates44°05′30″N 103°13′39″W / 44.09167°N 103.22750°W / 44.09167; -103.22750 (Rapid City Fruit Company)
Arealess than one acre
Built1920 (1920)
Built byC. A. Nesbit, Claude E. Gray
Architectural styleEarly 20th-C. commercial
NRHP reference No.93001340
Added to NRHPDecember 9, 1993

Rapid City Fruit Company is a historic commercial building at 320 7th Street in Rapid City, South Dakota. It was built in 1920 and was the first refrigerated warehouse in the city. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.

History

The Rapid City Fruit Company was founded in 1920 by C. A. Nesbit and Claude E. Gray. Nesbit, a rancher from nearby Fairburn, sold his ranch to focus on the fruit business. Both Nesbit and Gray had also previously been grocers; Gray was then president of the Black Hills Wholesale Grocery. Incorporated in September 1920, its starting capital was $100,000. The building was completed and opened in May 1921 with Roy Wortman as its manager. Located in the warehouse district near the railroad, the company's building was a major regional produce distribution hub and was the first refrigerated cold storage building in Rapid City. Wortman resigned in 1923 and Clyde W. Stewart, a salesman with the Black Hills Wholesale Grocery, took over his role.

Even after the fruit company disbanded—the date of which is unknown due to lack of records, but is estimated to be 1935—the building itself was still used as a warehouse for several decades. From 1936 to 1960, it was a warehouse for a local tobacco company. Between 1962 and 1982, it served as a warehouse for the Barber Company and Black Hills Warehouse Inc.; for ten years after that, it housed wholesale businesses. Today, it is still used as a commercial building.

On December 9, 1993, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its importance to the economic history of Rapid City, and for its well-preserved commercial architecture. A $5,800 grant allocated by the South Dakota State Historical Society from gambling profits in Deadwood funded minor restoration works in 1997.

Architecture

The Rapid City Fruit Company building is a one-story rectangular building at the corner of 7th and Apolda Streets and faces south. It measures 98 by 50 feet (30 by 15 m) and includes a basement that was used as cold storage. The Portland cement bricks used to construct it were provided by a partnership between Rapid City Brick and Tile Company and Garland Construction. The main entrance is elevated above street level and accessed by two staircases. Two brick columns on the west face divide that side into three bays, which were originally used as docking areas and now separate the businesses that occupy the building. Above each bay is a green lintel decorated with rosette-shaped tie coverings. Windows are simple rectangular openings. Original plans left space for a second story to be added, but this was never carried out. Brickwork is also present inside, in the form of brick cornices along the western wall and crowning a central elevator shaft. This Otis Elevator was used to move produce between the lower cold storage and upper loading floors. When in use, the basement was filled with ice and insulated by sawdust. Upon its otherwise flat roof sits a cupola that houses the elevator mechanism. A lean-to was added to the eastern side of the building in the mid-20th century but had been removed by 1986.

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. ^ Anderson, Ken. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Rapid City Fruit Company". National Park Service. Retrieved February 13, 2022. With accompanying pictures
  3. "New Wholesale Fruit House Is Launched Here". Rapid City Daily Journal. Rapid City, South Dakota. September 18, 1920. p. 1. Retrieved February 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Home of the Rapid City Fruit Company". Rapid City Daily Journal. Rapid City, South Dakota. July 14, 1921. p. 25. Retrieved February 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Rapid City Fruit Co. Start Business". Rapid City Daily Journal. Rapid City, South Dakota. May 13, 1921. p. 1. Retrieved February 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "'Business Outlook Was Never Better'". Rapid City Daily Journal. Rapid City, South Dakota. January 5, 1923. p. 3. Retrieved February 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. Dobbs, Pat (January 23, 1997). "For first time, gaming money spreading in state". Rapid City Journal. Rapid City, South Dakota. p. B1. Retrieved February 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
National Register of Historic Places in Pennington County, South Dakota
National Historic Site Pennington County map
Districts
Buildings
Commercial/
Industrial
Education
Government/Civic
Religious
Residential
Objects
Sites
Structures
Footnotes‡This historic property also has portions in an adjacent county.
† This entry has been removed from the registry.
See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Pennington County, South Dakota and List of National Historic Landmarks in South Dakota
Categories: