Source: Photo/Salena Zito
Posted on 08/24/2021 5:15:05 AM PDT by Kaslin
Source: Photo/Salena Zito
WALL, South Dakota -- Everything about Wall Drug, arguably the most iconic and long-lasting drugstore in America, exemplifies a doggedness. It took persistence to not only survive, but also thrive against insurmountable odds in a place few thought a small business had any business starting an enterprise in the first place.
In 1931, when Ted Hustead and his wife Dorothy were looking for a place to open a drugstore, he picked the thinly populated town of Wall because the local doctor told them he'd give them all his prescriptions, so he told the local paper years later.
Despite all their hard work, though, most of their potential customers passed their little prairie town along the highway, rarely noticing the store.
The Husteads' dire future all changed one hot summer night when Dorothy Hustead could not sleep. Irritated that the parade of cars along U.S. Route 16 was keeping her awake, she wondered: How could they make those people at least stop at their store and maybe buy a thing or two?
Out of that mild irritation came a plan: Plant signs along the highway offering free ice-cold water to weary travelers. And not just any signs, but clever ones like the humorous Burma-Shave signs that were famously posted all along small highways in the 1920s.
Her idea was both simple and genius. More importantly, it worked.
Within a year, they went from no employees to eight; the roadside signs went from a handful to hundreds of billboards. And today, Wall Drug is a 76,000-square-foot, multimillion-dollar slice of Americana where you can still get your prescription filled, but you can also get handcrafted moccasins, divine homemade doughnuts, out-of-print books on the American West, cowboy boots, clothing, ice cream, Western art, homemade pies and bumper stickers. If they don't have it, it's probably not made.
Those original signs, once handmade, have become thousands of nostalgic, colorful billboards that dot the prairie beginning before you depart Iowa or Minnesota for South Dakota. Those signs are so ingrained in our culture that soldiers during World War II and the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan planted the "Free Ice Water at Wall Drug" signs everywhere.
For many of those soldiers, those signs symbolized everything they loved about home and America.
Wall Drug's success has not just been limited to itself. As it grew and prospered, so did the town; there are now more than 400 motel rooms in Wall, several bed-and-breakfasts and some motor-lodge cabins and campsites.
People who come here are more often repeat visitors than first-timers, and if they are a first-timer, they vow they will be a repeat.
Charlie McLaughlin was sitting on a bench outside the drugstore, waiting for the 10 family members and friends he brought here from New England to make their way out of the store.
McLaughlin explained that he spends little time in the store himself: "I'd rather enjoy the people-watching."
Charlie explained that from his vantage point, he feels he can see all of America walk in front of him.
"People from every state, walk of life, size, shape, and color, and it is a great thing to watch," the Plainfield, Massachusetts, resident said.
"Look around you," he said, pointing to the flurry of thousands of people talking to each other, holding hands, eating ice cream. "They are all happy. I like that."
His perspective of the country is far different from what you see on the news channels or read about on social media; here, there was a definite sense that everyone had a connection to each other, that they were experiencing something bigger than themselves. It is a far cry from the constant drumbeat coming from our cultural curators who push storylines or sentiments that divide us.
McLaughlin's wife, Mary, said she really enjoyed the different people they met along the 1,800-mile trip.
The McLaughlins and their family and friends were heading to Sturgis for the annual motorcycle rally, then they were off to enjoy the sights and sounds of the rest of the country.
"After the rally, we're going to go on to Montana, Canadian border, Highway to the Sun, Glacier State Park, and then across to Washington state," Charlie explained as his eyes lit up.
At the time, they were just enjoying watching the people and their family's and friends' reactions to their first time at Wall Drug.
Wall was a town of about 300 when the Husteads arrived in a Model A truck. What they did far exceeds the riches of success; it is purposeful.
The Hustead family has done what Alexis de Tocqueville admired about the essence of Americanism: the drive to form associations with each other that draw together different types of professional, social, civil and political groups over a shared aspiration.
In this little prairie town exists this community where people from all different socioeconomic and geographical places feel that connective tissue with each other and with a druggist family that punched above its weight class.
It is something they find lacking every time they consume the news, go to buy a product or even watch any major sporting event. Everything about Wall Drug -- from its early trials to its innovative path to prosperity -- reflects that frontier spirit America was built on; it is an enduring quality that has embodied us and still embodies us to this day.
Fantastic article and very meaningful in our insane world.
In South Dakota roadsigns sometimes lead nowhere. It’s the only state I’ve ever driven through where you can come to an exit off the interstate and all the sign has is an exit number. No towns. No cities. No nothing.
Would have been cool if the article actually had a pic of some of the signs.
I just learned that I have been misinformed about Wall Drug. I had come to believe it came to fame because it was the last place the 49ers gold-rush migrators could get a cube of ice in a glass of water.... Somehow my story missed the mark by about a century!
Been there.
Wonder if they still give free coffee & donuts to active military
South of border signs were funny as kid but annoying as an adult . Was that 301?
Just drove through and stopped at Wall Drug, it’s been a stop for my family and friends since the 60s. Wall Drug is a lovely tourist trap with a good cafe, which has loads of original western art, free ice water and delicious donuts. If you have the time I highly recommend a stop at Wall Drug after which would can take a scenic drive through the Badlands National Park. A great way to spend a day!!
301? Do you mean Route 301? No,it’s just off of I-95 at the North Carolina/South Carolina border.
I went to Wall Drug in 2007 while I was out west. It’s a helluva place. It even has one of those animatronic dinosaurs.
It is not so much tacky as maybe your grandfathers basement on steroids. Its not really a drug store. If you have been to cracker barrel, you see a small fake version. Its a few buildings of stuff. Stuff they don’t make any more. Stuff you might think they never should have made. I guess its a curiosity shop mixed with an old world Woolworth. It has lots of Indian and western stuff. Of course you have your choice of jackalopes. And many of the items have been in the store from before I was born. And I am 60. But they do sell a lot. One thing to be sure of. The twenty minutes you spend in the store you will be seeing something you have never seen before.
I suggest you go there thinking of the person you can never buy a present for. Or if you need a gift for a host. Or if you just want a unique souvenir. This is the place. Buy something.
It's still on US-301
I love Wall Drug! I love all the ads on the road so you must stop in and check it out. I got a bunch of souvenirs, my favorite is a sculpture of wild horses in the Remington style.
If I remember correctly, there are a couple of those in Western Nebraska. You exit I-80, head down the ramp and then turn left or right into - and that’s it.
Oh I remember 301. Lots of speed traps. See a judge and pay fine in cash in what looked like a chickencoop.
The signs were tacky but got your attention.
One of the greatest tourists traps ever.
One I enjoy when I am in the area.
They do. And first responders.
Last year for essential workers too (when I was there, wife mentioned I was “essential” and I got a free cup of coffee).
Great town.
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