Keystone Walking Tour
Follow the numbered signs and read about the rich history of Keystone. There are 19 stations on the walking tour, each with a sign in description of the location.
1.Boarding House
Originally built in the 1890s for Henry Loomis and family. It later served as the Goodyear Motel and a boarding house for Mount Rushmore workers.
2.Ed Hayes Home
One of the original homes in Keystone built in the 1890s for Ed Coad and family.
3. Big Thunder Gold Mine
Registered as Reed’s Placer Claim in 1893 by two German immigrants, August Engle and Fred Sierth (formerly the Krupp Tunnel).
4. Upham Saloon
Built in the 1890s, the Upham Saloon was one of many saloons in Keystone’s history. It was destroyed by a mysterious fire.
5. Hayes & Hayes
Two brothers, John & Patrick Hayes, opened a double-wide mercantile store on this site in 1895.
6. Franklin Hotel
Built in the early 1890s, the hotel was owned and operated by William and Jennie Franklin. Bill was known as “Rocky Mountain Frank.”
7. Goodyear Hotel
The hotel was considered a luxurious hotel in the mid 1890s, advertising as “The rendezvous for the smartest people in the West.” The south half housed the Harney Peak Bank, later known as the Keystone Bank.
8. T.G. Hoy & Co.
Tom Hoy survived three fires and outlasted several pharmacies. He operated under the license of his father-in-law, Andrew Marble. The latter died in 1924, the last registered pharmacist in Keystone.
9. Ice House
From the first official Forest Service Ranger Station in the Black Hills, located on Box Elder Creek three miles south of present day Nemo near Steamboat Rock. Moved to this location in 2004. The two-story Sullivan Drug Store was at this location and the one-story City Meat Market was just to the south of the drug store.
10. Doctor’s Office
This office was built as a satellite office for Dr. Eugene B. Hultz, a physician from Hill City.
11. Blacksmith Shop
A photograph of the first automobile introduced in Keystone in 1909 is displayed on the site of the last blacksmith shop in Keystone, owned by “Peg Leg” or Peggy Haase, a one-legged horseshoer (farrier).
12. The Holy Terror Mine
Founded on June 28, 1894, perhaps the richest gold mine in the southern Black Hills.
13. Halley’s Store
It is the oldest continuous business in Keystone. Built in 1896 as the Keystone Trading Company as a general mercantile store.
14. Keystone Ice House
Built in 1935, the ice house stored ice taken from a local pond in the winter and sold in the summer months.
15. Bivouac Area
The 4th Cavalry from Fort Meade camped in this area in the 1930s.
16. Historic Homes
Homes built in the 1890s as seen as they appeared in the 1930s.
17. Log School House
This original log schoolhouse was bulit in the early 1890s. Miss Mary Wheelock taught 40 students here in 1894-1895.
18. Keystone School
Built with Victorian architecture in 1900, at a cost of $10,000 for 300 students. It served as a schoolhouse until 1988. Now the Keystone Historical Museum featuring Carrie Ingall’s memorabilia and James Langer’s Gem and Mineral Collection.
19. Church
The Keystone Congregational Church was built in 1896 at a cost of $2,000. It was used as a school before the Victorian schoolhouse was built.