As we continued west on I-90 towards Rapid City, SD, we passed many billboards reminding us to stop for 5 cent coffee, Homemade Donuts, Pie, and free water at Wall Drug. Once we made it to Wall, we were fortunate to find a RV parking spot in the parking lot. It was only a short walk to the famous Wall Drug!
What started out as a pharmacy in 1931 has turned into a sprawling tourist mall(76,000 sq feet) that occupy’s most of downtown Wall. On a good summer day, 20,000 people stop at Wall Drug. Travelers stop to enjoy the gift shops, frontier town, western art, photo collections, restaurant, and … 5 cent coffee and free ice water.
The story of Wall Drug is one of hard work, determination, and creativity. When Wall Drug was 5 yrs. old, the owners realized that the their business had not grown. That is when the owners came up with the idea of placing signs along the highway advertising free ice water. Their idea worked…tourists were lining up for free water and have been stopping ever since. They became billboard crazy and during the 1960’s they had placed over 3,000 painted wood highway signs! The family has turned Wall Drug into the #1 Roadside attraction in America!
We wandered around for a couple of hours looking at everything; drug store, chapel, art galleries, gift shops and life-sized old west characters. We couldn’t leave until we had lunch in the cafe/restaurant!
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