Sioux Falls Solved: What's the oldest building in Sioux Falls?

Note: This is the second installment of Sioux Falls Solved, where we answer your burning questions about the area. Have a nagging question? Email mhuber@argusleader.com or use the form at the bottom of the story.

The oldest building in Sioux Falls isn't downtown. It's not made of brick or quartz, and you've probably driven by it without batting an eye.

The original Cataract Hotel building is nearly 150 years old and is used as apartments at its location on Duluth Avenue, just a few blocks from where it was originally built in 1871 on the corner of Ninth Street and Phillips Avenue.

Along with the Cataract Hotel, the oldest building in Sioux Falls still standing where it was originally built is the Coffea building at the corner of 10th Street and Phillips Avenue.

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The Cataract Hotel

The Cataract Hotel was a two story wood frame building completed in August 1871 by William H. and Henry T. Corson, according to an article from the Argus Leader archives. The hotel opened Aug. 5, 1871 and boasted 14 sleeping rooms and two parlors.

The brothers were hailed as some of the "pioneers of Sioux Falls," based on Henry's obituary in 1914. The two moved to Sioux Falls from Athens, Maine in the 1870s to construct the hotel and run the business, according to Bill Hoskins, Old Courthouse Museum director.

"Before long it became the premier hotel of Dakota Territory," according to an Argus Leader archive article. Much of the traffic to the hotel was driven by affluent couples seeking a divorce in South Dakota, since it could easily be attained in the state and residency could be achieved in only 90 days.

Couples would stay at the Cataract Hotel, another hotel or rent a house, and wait out the 90 days, according to a 2014 Argus Leader article.

The Corsons expanded the hotel in 1878 with a three-story brick building to the north of the hotel. By 1882, the original building was moved to Ninth Street while a third building was completed on the original site, according to Hoskins.

On June 30, 1900, fireworks on display in the front window of the Cataract Hotel's third building caught fire and burned the hotel to the ground, according to an Argus Leader article. By this time, the original building had been moved to Main Avenue and opened as the Sherman House in 1883.

While the building operated as the Sherman House for about eight years, a shooting occurred in its alley revolving around a worker at the hotel, according to an article from November 1899. No one died in the shootout.

The Sherman House was purchased in 1901 by Knute Thompson, moved to Duluth Avenue and remodeled as a residence. Today, the building stands at 120 S. Duluth Avenue as an apartment complex.

The German Bank

People regularly sip coffee and peer out of the wide, arched windows of the Coffea and Houwman Insurance & Companies, Inc. building in downtown Sioux Falls. The windows are original aspects of the 141-year-old building, while its facade and inside layout have been redesigned over its life on the corner of 10th Street and Phillips Avenue.

The building was originally constructed as the German Bank on the 1st floor and had office space on the second floor by Robert Nation, who came to Sioux Falls by train in 1878 and purchased the lot, according to documents at the Old Courthouse Museum.

The bank was reorganized as the Citizen's National Bank and purchased by Edward Beebe in February 1881, according to documents at the Old Courthouse Museum. The bank eventually surrendered its charter in 1888 to the Minnehaha National Bank, which later became the First National Bank.

By 1900, the building was changed into a sanitarium opened by Sioux Falls' first female doctor, Dr. Eva Shreve, and her husband, Dr. Frank Shreve, Hoskins said.

According to an advertisement in a March 1900 Argus Leader, the couple said they could cure a variety of private and chronic diseases, including removing tapeworms in 60 minutes without fasting.

A new facade was put into place on the front of the building in 1923. Over time, it housed a dress and bridal shop, a kitchen supply store, and more, said Grant Houwman, owner of Houwman Insurance and a building investor in downtown Sioux Falls.

Houwman bought the building with his brothers in 1998 and worked to preserve the building's historic features, along with other buildings in downtown Sioux Falls.

When they first bought the building at 200 S. Phillips Avenue, Houwman said they found sewing needles between the wood floor planks on the second floor. He's hoping to work on the building's facade and rework the brick that's been painted overtime.

"Every old building has something you can showcase that people can appreciate," said Houwman, who specifically admires the building's arch windows, the multiple types of brick used the the building and the detail at the top of the building.

"I'm just a huge advocate of preserving these older buildings," Houwman said. "We kind of look at it as being a caretaker for the next generation."

Hoskins said the oldest residence in Sioux Falls is the A.C. Phillips house at 623 W. Eighth St. It was built in 1872 and was the home of Arthur and Imogene Phillips.