Sioux Sanitarium

History

The hospital has had a long, brutal history. Located in Rapid City, South Dakotan it started out as a boarding school for Indians in the late 1800s. Many children died due to abuse or cold weather. After it's abandonment, the building remained empty for many years until the outbreak of the "white plague" (tuberculosis.) The darkest part of it's history came when the building was converted into a massive hospital called the Sioux Sanitarium for the TB patients. Although sanitariums were considered advanced, the treatments were primitive and grisly. Many patients died as a result of the disease, or even the brutal treatments the doctors gave the patients. Many more patients went crazy, often resorting to suicide. After the patenting of streptomycin, almost all of the sanitariums in the United States were closed down in the 1940s through the 60s. The building remained empty for several years until it was converted into a public hospital and named the Sioux San Hospital. The hospital still has nimerous, unmarked graves around the campus; not only from the TB patients, but also from the Indian children.