Rapid City is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the harmony developed, it is in western South Dakota, on the Black Hills’ eastern slope. The population was 74,703 as of the 2020 Census.

Known as the “Gateway to the Black Hills” and the “City of Presidents” because of the life-size bronze president statues downtown, Rapid City is split by a low mountain ridge that divides the city’s western and eastern parts. Ellsworth Air Force Base is upon the city’s outskirts. Camp Rapid, part of the South Dakota Army National Guard, is in the city’s western part.

Rapid City is home to such attractions as Art Alley, Dinosaur Park, the City of Presidents walking tour, Chapel in the Hills, Storybook Island, and Main Street Square. The historic “Old West” town of Deadwood is nearby. In the adjacent to Black Hills are the tourist attractions of Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, and the museum at the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research. To the city’s east is Badlands National Park.

The public discovery of gold in 1874 by the Black Hills Expedition, led by George Armstrong Custer, brought a enlargement influx of European-American miners and settlers into Rapid City. A charity of unsuccessful miners founded Rapid City in 1876, trying to Make other chances; they promoted their additional city as the “Gateway to the Black Hills”; it was originally known as Hay Camp. The “Gateway” nickname is shared by adjoining Box Elder. In February 1876, John Richard Brennan and Samuel Scott, with a small group of men, laid out Rapid City. It was eventually named for the spring-fed Rapid Creek that flows through it.