More than 4 million Veterans return from active military careers to reside in rural communities. At VA, we work to meet these Veterans where they live and promote the opportunities to find happy homes in these rural communities around the country.
Like the Veterans we serve, these rural communities are as diverse and exciting as you can imagine. Today, we’ll visit South Dakota to explore the history of Fort Meade, the VA medical center that bears its name, and the community of Sturgis that developed to support it.
History of Fort Meade
Fort Meade traces its history to the effort to protect the new settlements in the northern Black Hills in South Dakota, especially the nearby gold mining area around Deadwood. A temporary United States military camp was established in August 1876, on Spring Creek a little north of Bear Butte.
During the occupation of this camp, the present site of Fort Meade was selected and located as a permanent United States military post, which was established and garrisoned in 1878. The work of building the post began on Aug. 28 of that year and was completed one year later.
It was here that the “Star Spangled Banner” first became the official music for the military retreat ceremony, long before it became the National Anthem. In 1892, the post commander began the custom of playing the “Star Spangled Banner” at military ceremonies.
For most of its history, there has been some military presence at Fort Meade. Many cavalry and infantry units were stationed there, including:
- The 7th U.S. Cavalry after the Battle of the Little Bighorn
- The Buffalo Soldiers of the 25th U.S. Infantry
- The 4th U.S. Cavalry, which saw the transition from horses to mechanization
- The 88th Glider Infantry Regiment during World War II
Fort Meade was designated a National Historic District on May 22, 1973, the first location in Meade County to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The facilities still serve as a training site for the South Dakota National Guard and an Army National Guard Officer Candidate School. It is also the home of the Fort Meade National Cemetery.
Fort Meade VA Medical Center
The talk of turning Fort Meade into a VA hospital began in the aftermath of World War I, when the military presence at Fort Meade had begun to wane and the demand for Veterans’ health services skyrocketed. However, the final decision to turn the fort into a hospital did not come until the end of World War II.
In an effort to construct the facility, old fort buildings were repurposed. The barracks were converted into patient housing and therapy offices, stables formed part of the kitchen, and the old hospital building housed the radiology and pharmacy departments.
Over time, VA decided that the long-term goal would be to construct entirely new, modern-style buildings. The construction concluded in the early 1960s and resulted in the creation of 2 new medical wings with a combined 340-bed capacity on the north side of the site. By the 1970s, the complex reached its current size of about 250 acres.
Now part of the VA Black Hills Health Care System, Fort Meade VA Medical Center provides primary care and specialty health services to support Veterans dealing with issues related to mental health, nutrition, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injuries, and more.
Sturgis, South Dakota
Fort Meade is located just east of Sturgis, South Dakota. Sturgis owes its development to Fort Meade, as the residents of an earlier settlement in the region moved to the fledgling town to support the fort’s development.
For many years, the city marketed itself as the “Key City” or “Key City to the Black Hills,” thanks to its geographical position of at the valley entrance to the Northern Black Hills, where the most significant deposits of gold were discovered.
Modern Sturgis claims fame as the site of one of the largest annual motorcycle events in the world: the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The annual event lasts for 10 days, beginning on the first Friday of August, and it attracts a large number of motorcycle enthusiasts from around the world.
This event, and the region’s history as home to military cavalry riders, has helped it adopt a new moniker: City of Riders.
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