7 Roadside Attractions Along I-90 In South Dakota

South Dakota’s two largest cities – Sioux Falls and Rapid City – bookend the state on the eastern and western sides respectively. Between the two cities runs I-90 which also skirts the northern edge of Badlands National Park.

Along I-90 you can find all kinds of roadside attractions with varying levels of quirkiness. We stopped at quite a few of them along our drive from Sioux Falls to Rapid City, so here are some great places to stop and stretch your legs along I-90 in South Dakota.

The map below shows where they’re all located:

The World’s Only Corn Palace

High on our list of must-visit places in South Dakota was the Corn Palace. We’d seen so many mentions of it in the past, plus the friends we met up with in Sioux Falls both grew up in Mitchell (where the Corn Palace is located) and had that as their first jobs.

I’d been picturing it being kinda hokey (or, should I say, corny), but I have to admit – I was more impressed with it than I’d initially expected. We got incredibly unlucky with our timing though. The Corn Palace is open every day of the week from May 1 to October 31 and Monday-Saturday from November 1 to April 30. Shae and I left Sioux Falls on April 30 to head towards Pierre which happened to be a Sunday. That meant it was literally the very last day for the following six months when it would be closed.

That meant we couldn’t go inside, but much of the Corn Palace’s glory is based on the building’s exterior which we could still check out.

The first Corn Palace was built in 1892, with a second one replacing it in 1905. The city decided to build a third Corn Palace in 1919, with it being completed a couple of years later in 1921 and that’s what still stands today.

The building is decorated each year with a new design. When we visited on April 30, 2023 it still had its 2022 design mounted to it – Under The Big Top. As the name suggests, it had a circus theme with clowns, elephants and all kinds of other circus performers.

The artwork is created using 12 different colors or shades of corn, with about 325,000 ears of corn adorning the building by the end of the process. Each year’s creations start in late May and take until October 1 to complete; this includes removing the previous year’s installation and putting up the new design for the current year.

When standing close to the building you can see the individual ears of corn and marvel at how much effort must go into creating these new designs every year.

Address

The World’s Only Corn Palace, 604 N Main St, Mitchell, SD 57301

Dignity Of Earth And Sky Statue

Shae and I had decided to spend a few days in Pierre, so Google Maps took us on a route that I’ve since realized meant that we missed out on seeing the Dignity of Earth and Sky statue. That’s a shame as it’s a beautiful statue of a Native American woman that stands 50 feet tall and is constructed using hundreds of pieces of stainless steel.

Address

Dignity of Earth and Sky, Chamberlain, SD 57325

South Dakota State Capitol

OK, so it’s not quirky and it’s not actually just off I-90, but the capital of South Dakota – Pierre – is only 35 miles north of I-90 as it goes through Vivian and so could be worth a stop if you’re interested in visiting their state capitol building.

Pierre is the second smallest state capital by population (Montpelier, VT – which we love – is the smallest), so there’s not too much else to do in Pierre, so this could be a relatively quick stop. You can take a one hour guided tour of the capitol building, or take yourself on a self-guided tour.

Address

South Dakota State Capitol, 500 E Capitol Ave, Pierre, SD 57501

Little Brown Church On The Prairie

After checking out the State Capitol building, you could drive the 35 miles south to get back on I-90. However, if you’d like another quick little fun stop then drive west about 35 miles along US-14 W to the Little Brown Church on the Prairie, a church that feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere.

The church was originally built in Hayes in 1912 and was used for a decade. It was subsequently moved to its current location just west of Hayes in 1923 and has been there ever since. It’s still in use as a church that serves the Hayes community, although it doesn’t seem to be open during the week to go inside.

Address

Little Brown Church on the Prairie, US Hwy 14, Hayes SD

1880 Town

If you didn’t take the diversions to the State Capitol building and Little Brown Church on the Prairie, the next roadside attraction along I-90 is 1880 Town. This is a recreation of a Wild West town with 30+ original buildings that help give a taste of what life was like in the late 19th century.

It’s a great stop along the way and we ended up spending about 2.5 hours there. A wonderful feature is that it’s incredibly pet-friendly, so if you’re traveling with your pups they can wander around with you. Check out our post about 1880 Town to learn more about it.

Address

1880 Town, 24280 SD Hwy 63 I90 Exit, 170, Midland, SD 57552

Prairie Dog Town & World’s Largest Prairie Dog

This stop was a spur of the moment decision after we saw a sign for it while driving along I-90. We – but Shae particularly – love prairie dogs, so seeing signs that said you can feed prairie dogs was too good of an opportunity to miss out on.

Side note: I recently learned that people in Amarillo, TX call prairie dogs “sod poodles” and that’s the name of their minor league baseball team – such a weird but wonderful name!

Anyway, back to the prairie dog town. You can buy bags of peanuts for $1 apiece in the adjacent Badlands Ranch Store, then just wander around the prairie dog town tossing them peanuts. If you want to get them to come close though, you’ll want to remain still as they’re skittish little things.

The store also has the world’s largest prairie dog statue to add some quirkiness to your visit. Check out Shae’s post about the prairie dog town for more about our visit and some tips to help you maximize your own trip there.

Address

Badlands Ranch Store, 21190 SD-240, Philip, SD 57567

Wall Drug Store

Despite being on the western side of South Dakota, you’ll start seeing signs for Wall Drug along I-90 as soon as you enter South Dakota on the eastern side of the state. You’ll then continue seeing signs for it seemingly every mile, so it felt like something we had to stop and see.

We’ve been to places before where we’ve seen billboards for miles on end like JR’s Cigar Outlet in North Carolina and South of the Border in South Carolina. The reason they put up so many billboards is because you’d probably give them a miss otherwise and, to be honest, we could’ve done that with Wall Drug.

The Wall Drug complex is spread out over 76,000 sq ft, so that should give it plenty of space for fun and quirky stuff. We ended up leaving an hour later a little disappointed as we both found it pretty boring.

A bright spot in all this is that Wall Drug is very pet-friendly. Dogs are allowed all throughout the complex other than in the café.

Wall Drug first became popular back in the day thanks to its billboards promising free ice water. That’s still offered today and we got three cups so that Truffles could stay hydrated too.

If you want somewhere to stretch your legs, Wall Drug could be a good place to it. That said, for us it was more of a quick stop rather than it being a destination in its own right.

Address

Wall Drug Store, 510 Main St, Wall, SD 57790