King Adkins and his wonderful students at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology have been working hard all spring to highlight wonderful Rapid City, South Dakota, host city for this year’s ACM-ICPC World Finals. Today they tell us about some historical attractions.
The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site was established in 1999 to illustrate the history and significance of the Cold War, the arms race, and intercontinental ballistic missile development. This National Historic Site preserves the last remaining Minuteman II ICBM system in the United States.
In 1990, a massive fossilized Tyrannosaurus Rex was discovered in the Badlands of South Dakota. This fossil was discovered by a man named Peter Larson, a paleontologist who studied at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. The fossil was later the center of much controversy involving who the fossil belonged to.
The Alex Johnson Hotel is a historic hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota. The hotel began construction in 1927, and opened its doors for the first time nine months later in 1928. Johnson meant for the hotel to be a “showplace of the west,” to show and share his love for the Black Hills, and to be a tribute to the Native Americans of the area. It combined the beauty of the Black Hills, Lakota people and Germanic heritage, of the immigrants who made South Dakota their home, noticeable in the structure itself within the tutor design and interior decor.