It Happened in South Dakota by Straub Patrick;Griffith Tom D.; & T. D. Griffith

Author:Straub, Patrick;Griffith, Tom D.; & T. D. Griffith
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781493023585
Publisher: TwoDot
Published: 2016-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

THIRSTY? WALL DRUG SERVES SETTLERS

1931

As the rolling tumbleweeds blew across the Badlands and drifted aimlessly across the prairie, the quiet town of Wall, South Dakota, stood in the way. Not much more than a few homesites and barns back in the 1930s, Wall was home to a little over three hundred people and thousands of stranded tumbleweeds. But when Nebraska native Ted Hustead and his wife Dorothy decided to purchase a piece of real estate, this sleepy prairie town would change forever.

In the early 1930s in South Dakota, most residents had been hit hard by the Great Depression. In fact, nearly all of South Dakota’s rural population had suffered some form of loss, whether it was land, money, or even their lives. The Husteads were just scraping by, living in a simple apartment in Canova, South Dakota, with their four-year-old son, Billy. Ted had graduated from pharmacy school in 1929 and had worked for other druggists for a couple of years. He and Dorothy felt it was time they struck out on their own.

Armed with a very small inheritance and a Model T, Ted and Dorothy and their son ventured out to find a suitable town—and drugstore—for their new adventure, during a time when many others were struggling just to get by. Their search eventually brought them to Wall—a town with a Catholic church, a doctor, and a banker. Everyone assured the Husteads that Wall was a town worthy of their choice and in need of a pharmacist. Ted and Dorothy were excited and ready to start their new life.

Their parents and extended family were a little less enthusiastic, however. In their minds Wall was a busted town in the middle of the South Dakota prairie wasteland with no redeeming qualities. They had a point: Even though the Husteads were the proud owners of a tiny drugstore, it was in the middle of nowhere, and they had to struggle to make ends meet in the dying prairie town. What little money there was in Wall went to essentials. Few residents had proper medical care, so a visit to the drugstore was a luxury. Even with the increase in traffic from the completion of Mount Rushmore, the Husteads still found little to cheer about. Despite these obstacles, nothing was going to stop the two young entrepreneurs.

The tide would turn for them one hot summer day. Dorothy had left Ted in the store to go and take a nap, but she returned less than an hour later. Ted assumed she’d had a hard time sleeping because of the simmering heat outside. Dorothy said it wasn’t the heat that bothered her, but the noise from all of the traffic on Route 16A. And that had given her an idea . . .

What happened next would become Wall Drug’s legacy.

“Well, now, what is it that those travelers really want after driving across that hot prairie?” Dorothy asked Ted. “They’re thirsty. They want water. Ice-cold water! Now, we’ve got plenty of ice and water. Why

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