Sioux City History

The Sioux City Ghosts were an all-black fast-pitch softball team. They started in Sioux City and began touring the United States, Canada, and Mexico during the 1930s, and played until 1956.

The history of the Sioux City stockyards goes back to the very earliest days of our town. It is a colorful story that includes livestock and businessmen, immigrants and packing plants, glory and tragedy. It involves historic Sioux City names like James Booge, John Peirce, F. L. Eaton and Holman Waitt.

From 1887 to 1891, Sioux Cityans celebrated the autumn harvest with a festival featuring the construction of a large building in downtown called a Corn Palace covered in corn and other grains. The final Sioux City Corn Palace of 1891 is shown here.

On March 31, 1952, the Floyd River rose to a 20.3 crest north of town. This was the highest in fifteen years. The Springdale area had to be evacuated.

Wambdi Okicize is commonly known as War Eagle. He was born in either Wisconsin or Minnesota around 1785. While his Indian name means "Little Eagle," whites always referred to him as War Eagle, which is odd because all through his life War Eagle sought to keep peace.

Sioux City PRIDE Roots is a project to preserve and share history of the LGBTQ community in Sioux City. The Sioux City Public Museum received funding in February 2019 from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities to conduct, preserve and share oral histories and provide a public program with historian/author Neil Miller in June 2019.

Sergeant Charles Floyd is best known as the only member of the crew to die during the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the first United States soldier to die west of the Mississippi.

The legacy of the Waitt family's impact on Siouxland began when George Waitt (shown here) started his livestock commission business in the stockyards in 1887. He was part of the reorganization of the Union Stock Yards Co. into the Sioux City Stockyards Co. in 1887. This 1977 interview with his son, Sioux City cattleman Holman Waitt chronicles the family's involvement in the local cattle industry.

The Sioux City Elevated Railway was a grand venture, costing over $586,000 to build. It was the third steam-powered elevated in the world.

The Commercial Men's Boat Club was one of the last boat clubs to be formed in the area. Located in Riverside Park, the purpose of the club was similar to that of a country club today. It included both men and women as members. During the 1940s all the major big bands performed at the club: Glenn Miller, Lawrence Welk, Count Basie, Skitch Henderson, Louie Armstrong, and many others. During World War II, soldiers from the Air Base were frequent visitors.