Photography
by Bill Groethe |
| Take the time to visit and appreciate a portion of the photo collection offered at this site. They are the works/creations of Bill Groethe, Photographer and area native with over 66 years of experience. He also maintains a large collection of historic pictures from the Bell Studios and today, with his family, owns and operates 1st Photo and Trail’s End Gallery in Rapid City, SD. The collection consists of over 5,000 visual treasures and memories dating from 1927 to the present time. For more information, e-mail us or check the business directory of area photographers from our icons. |
Rapid City
The City of Presidents
New Additions |
Imagine walking down St. Joseph Street and then on to Main Street and meeting, on your way, past American Presidents. They will be found on street corners, standing life size, and created in bronze by leading Western South Dakota sculptors. Visitors and residents alike will be able to walk among the Presidents and be photographed face to face and side by side with them. That is especially enjoyable for children and their grandparents.
 Each President will be actual height and dressed appropriately for the period in which he lived. Each year two Presidents from the beginning of the Presidency and two beginning with contemporary past Presidents will be created and placed on Rapid City’s downtown streets. A ten-year completion date is anticipated for the project. John Adams, George Washington, George Bush and Ronald Reagan completed the first set of four Presidents in 2000. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Gerald Ford (and his dog, Liberty) and Jimmy Carter were added on December 3, 2001. Park your car and enjoy the walking tour. |
| The Beautiful Black Hills Where the Altitude Affects Your Attitude |
| Rapid City is listed at 3,250 feet above sea level not considering all the higher elevations and fabulous views scattered throughout the city. The highest points in the area are located at Harney Peak (over 7,000 feet) and our ski areas (almost as high). Many of the communities have an elevation over 1 mile above sea level. These heights provide the gift of some amazing blue skies and towering white clouds to go with our clean mountain air. |
| The books tell us that Harney Peak is the highest point between the Pyrenees and the Rocky Mountains which is still pretty great for an area that was once 15,000 feet high a few tens of millions of years ago - erosion will do that! In summary, being at a high elevation with clean air and at the top of the watershed combined with an energizing climate and miles and miles of public, state and federal lands to enjoy, it all contributes even more to the Black Hills as a great place to enjoy the good life. |
| A few years ago, a family (newly arrived from Kansas) was working with us to buy a home. At one point, the wife, who had been driving around on her own, called in despair and said, “I hate it here. Wherever I try to drive, there’s a hill in the way.” Now, after living here a few years, she has the right attitude - those hills offer great views! |
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| History & Who We Are |
| Our great grandfather and grandmother left Denmark and settled in Dakota Territory just before South Dakota Statehood. That may not qualify us as natives but certainly long-term settlers. With a five generation history in the state, we hope that some of our experience and knowledge will offer visitors an understanding and insight into life in the Black Hills - the beautiful Paha Sapa. Today we are professional Realtors. We locate properties, we sell properties and we are an information resource for this area. We do not have paid advertising on this site but offer links and articles about the Black Hills. Enjoy and if you have any information requests, let us know. The Rabens |
Hikers and
Mountain Bikers |
| Hikers and bikers enjoy special benefits in the Hills. For the physical size of the region, it offers hundreds of miles of trails to enable you to explore and enjoy the natural beauty of the scenery and serenity of the Paha Sapa (the Black Hills). One trail runs from Deadwood to Pringle (the Mickelson Trail) along the abandoned Burlington-Northern Railroad Line, the Centennial Trail runs from Bear Butte to Wind Cave (close to Hot Springs) and there are other trails in the Central Hills like Black Elk Wilderness and Norbeck Wildlife Preserve. Contact us for information on maps and more. |
Year-Around Fishing |
| From fly fishing to ice fishing, the fishing season never closes in South Dakota which makes the pursuit of trout a year-round sport. The Black Hills are home to 14 mountain lakes and more than 300 miles of meandering streams containing brook, brown and rainbow trout. The surrounding prairie has reservoirs and stock dams that are brimming with walleyes, largemouth bass, northern pike, catfish and a variety of panfish. Because the Black Hills are user-friendly, you don’t have to drive a hundred miles to get to your favorite fishing spot. Most of the communities have fishing available within the city and there are no lines to stand in and no waiting to get to your favorite fishing hole. |
| Small Town Living with Big City Activities, Services & Advantages |
| The Rapid City limits cover about 45 square miles (larger than the San Francisco, CA, city limits) with a population of about 60,000 people. In that area, we enjoy large parks and formal gardens, picnic areas, greenways, recreation and playing fields for soccer, baseball, football and more such as recently added aquatic parks and, under construction, a new hockey/ice facility for year-around events and miles and miles of scenic paths for bicycles, walking and jogging. If you’re into fishing, we have several lakes and Rapid Creek flowing through the community. All of this located in our beautiful mountains has enhanced the outdoor pleasures. And to complement all that, we are the regional center for an area of hundreds of thousands of people and, in the tourist season, millions of visitors for conventions and “seeing the sights.” Add to all that our first-class regional medical services, entertainment from Broadway musicals to theatre and rodeos, shopping, good dining, retirement facilities, education though college and university level, an exciting art community and volumes more. (Check out www.blackhills.com/deadwood.) Package that all together with a cost of living that is one of the most affordable in the country and you’ve found an excellent reason to explore your options in Rapid City in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. When you consider that it all started as a “Hay Camp” over one hundred years ago where it delivered supplies to larger mining communities in the hills, Rapid City has done well for itself and it’s residents. |
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Year-Around Good Times and Events |
| The Black Hills area offers an amazing menu of experiences and adventures to visitors and to residents alike. Deadwood is a good example. It is located at close to a mile high in the mountain country with bright blue sky and fresh air and surrounded by western history. The new Deadwood offers gaming, entertainment for adults and children, history and access to skiing and snowmobiling in winter. All of this is only minutes from Mt. Rushmore and Spearfish Canyon. Spend some time in the high country touring old mines and ghost towns. The Queen City, Spearfish, is the home of the Black Hills Passion Play and Black Hills State University and, with everything else, is increasingly popular as a regional retirement center. Lead, SD, Deadwood’s sister city, is going to be the site of a new national neutrino research center. The other area cities and towns are also growing. |
| WE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA |
| are comprised of different heritages, religions and other variations but our common bonds are our freedoms and being Americans first and foremost. In this troubled and fast-changing world, we must sustain our system of government and work as one toward its preservation. The tragedy of September 11, 2001, acted as a catalyst to unify us toward the goal of protecting our way of life, our people and our democratic heritage. When many of our ancestors arrived here, they were seeking the very things that, by and large, we enjoy today. We are aware of the injustices that occurred to Black Americans and the unfairness that affected Native Americans, but this time there may be an opportunity that we had not earlier realized. In the past, when people asked us about our own family roots, we usually responded with Danish or English or German American, as other groups do. What if, when we are asked from now on, we say proudly "American" of Danish heritage (or Polish, Indian, Black, etc.) but, first and foremost, an AMERICAN. |
| A Word About Real Estate and the Necessary Information to Help You! |
| With decades of knowledge and experience in our chosen career, our sales team professionals have consistently solved problems and provided information to thousands of clients, customers, families and businesses just looking for information and assistance to help them make the best decisions for their futures. We accomplish that with systems and professional services to do the job right. We are not the largest real estate firm in this area, nor do we have a franchise. What we do have is a method of doing business and connections to provide state-of-the-art services and resources, save costs and get results. To further help, we are members of RELO, the nation’s largest independent Realtor organization with 3,500 affiliated offices, 85,000 realtors, and 10,000 U. S. communities served. We’re also members of the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce, supporters of the Rapid City Economic Development Partnership, members of the Black Hills Association of Realtors, National Association of Realtors and the Black Hills Board of Realtors. Check out our sites, compare services and tell us what you want. |
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or call toll free!
Toll Free: 1-888-341-7272