An Office in the City

President Calvin Coolidge (center) poses for a photograph with his wife, Grace, and Dr. C.C. O'Harra, the President of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technogy in Rapid City, in 1927. (Rapid City Public Library.)

As the State Game Lodge replaced the White House residence for the summer of 1927, the Rapid City High School assumed the role normally reserved for the Oval Office: hosting the president and his administration, and housing the nation’s most important business. The population of Rapid City, one of western South Dakota’s largest urban centers, would hit the 10,000 mark by the 1930 census. A thirty-two mile drive from the Game Lodge, Rapid City was the Coolidge family’s first stop in the Black Hills.

In preparation for the president’s visit, state officials established a telegraph line that could pass news and messages between the Rapid City office and the nation’s capital. They also connected a private telephone line from the Game Lodge to the high school. A bevy of aides, secretaries, and other governmental officials occupied offices on the high school campus.