During the Summer months of 1887, a man by the name of Ralph Jaybush kept pestering the Sioux Falls City Council about affixing addresses to buildings. Finally on July 2, action was taken. Ninth Street and Phillips Avenue was deemed the center of the city and the place where numbering would begin. It was also deemed that streets shall run East and West and avenues shall run North and South.
I contacted Daniel Neeves at Siouxland Libraries to assist me in learning about the history of some of the street names. He contacted the Sioux Falls Street Naming Committee. To my surprise, he found that there is no history maintained on street names.
Most street names are selected by the original land developer. Street names must satisfy specific criteria. If the criteria is satisfied, then the name is allowed. The City does not require an explanation of why the name was selected. Nor does the City maintain a history of why a private land developer selected the name.
Despite there being no official records on street names, I was able to research and find a few resources that detailed the origin of some street names in Sioux Falls. Here are a few.
